Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)

I am glad to be able to speak today on the capital programme for the next few years. As a civil engineer I realise the importance of investment in our nation's infrastructure. There is no doubt that the nation's capital investment has been very successful in developing infrastructure over the past 20 years and in County Meath, there are now four motorways, with each making it easier for jobs to come to the area and for businesses and people to operate. We have reached the stage where there are very few shortfalls and gaps in our road network. With any remaining gaps there is an issue of providing bypasses while ensuring the current road network is well maintained. That is in preference to the construction of new motorways.

We must learn lessons from the motorway construction programme, particularly how effective was the spend and if the capital costs were in some cases excessive. For the next four years we have managed to find €17 billion for capital budgets and next year will see us spend approximately €4 billion. That is a reduction of €750 million but it is still a large amount. Deputy Fleming spoke of us raiding funds, which is totally unacceptable, particularly since the Deputy and his party raided each and every citizen of the country and put children into hock for generations. I do not accept such terminology. He spoke about the lack of job creation in the €17 billion capital programme but I remind him that when his party left government we had 440,000 people on the unemployment register. We are trying to get out of that mire by creating jobs and this capital investment programme will go a long way in doing so.

We must get the best value for money from this expenditure and we must target the expenditure on those projects which will give us the best return for our money. I have designed and overseen the construction of many road projects and I want to see more bypasses built. This is for a number of reasons. They reduce travel times for motorists and make it easier for businesses. They relieve clogged towns and villages and make it more attractive for people to visit and live in such places. They also reduce the number of accidents in towns and villages and create jobs in the construction phase.

Schemes like the bypass of Slane on the N2 will achieve all these objectives. I am glad the Minister has ensured there will be sufficient funding in the budget to proceed with the purchase of land for this bypass and in the next few years I will push him to release more money for construction. Every euro spent on a bypass such as that at Slane will give €3 back to society through social and economic benefits.

I mentioned that prior to entering politics I worked in the transport sector. One of my roles was as investment appraisal manager for new transport projects for British Rail. While there, I was responsible for carrying out a cost-benefit analysis for a new underground line in London known as Crossrail. I learned much about the various benefits that could be delivered by new metro systems. From examining the published documentation on metro north in Dublin I remain unconvinced as to whether the current proposal represents the most effective use of public money. Taking into account social benefits, time savings, road decongestion, accident savings, job creation, climate change benefits and all other items included in a standard appraisal, it appears that the project even then just about washes its face.

We are in a time when other projects may give a greater return for public investment. As we must be very selective about investment as funding is limited, it is only right that we think again about metro north. We must ask if a slimmer version would be better and if a more intensive quality bus network would be a better option. As funding is limited, we should use it wisely.

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