Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to debate on a Bill that Fianna Fáil will support in principle. It is a sensible approach that recognises the economic state of the country, the considerable reduction in the capital programme and the fact we are in a different phase of development in the economy. It is right that a level of consolidation takes place. Notwithstanding some concerns, it is not a bad idea to pull together these skill sets.

I want to record my thanks and appreciation to the staff and board of the Rail Procurement Agency, RPA. They were people of a high calibre and high standing and they did an excellent job. Since being elected initially to the Seanad, I have been a member of the transport committee. During the initial phases of the roll-out of the Luas system, it was a regular occurrence, as Deputy Olivia Mitchell recalls, to have Mr. Frank Allen, then chief executive, appear before the committee to respond to issues as they arose. I found him and the board member and chairperson of time, Mr. Pádraic White, to be people who engaged fully with the Oireachtas and sought to resolve or mollify the concerns being raised by traders in various locations. They did a fine job and no one involved in the RPA should see its dissolution as any reflection on the good work it did. That is a view held by all sides of the House.

When the two organisations are being made one, it is important to retain the vision of successive Governments to bring about a change in the dynamic of public transport infrastructure. I hope the concept of light rail and metro are visions held by all who serve the State. We must maintain a continued level of investment to ensure that, at a future time, there will be a Metro North project and the roll-out of light rail systems as part of the overall development of public transport. The National Transport Authority has made proposals about bus rapid transit, BRT, particularly for linking the airport. It is a sensible project and is something that can be incorporated into the work of the new merged entity, taking into account the skill sets that resided in the RPA and recognising its ability to roll out a project of that nature in a cost-efficient and effective way.

In the downsizing of the two entities, there is often a rush by some in the political process to be seen to reduce costs. We must be careful that, in making relatively minor savings, we do not undermine the capacity of the people or organisation concerned to deliver on the big picture, which is an efficient and effective public transport system that incorporates all entities, including light rail, bus and public service vehicles in a manner that gives Dublin and other cities a favourable position. We must ensure we have the most effective, efficient and best quality public transport system in western Europe. We should continue to strive for that. We have the benefit of not having the legacy of old and outdated systems. We have been rolling out systems in recent years and it gives us the chance to be more advanced.

Some figures have been compiled by my party and show that motorists pay 10% of all taxes in the State but Government spending on roads is being reduced for the regional and local road network by a massive 17% this year. We need fairness in taxes, and when hard-pressed motorists are paying in excess of €4 billion in taxes and charges annually, the least they can expect is that the roads are maintained to an acceptable standard. The recent bad weather did massive damage to the local road network, with which the Minister is familiar. Tax transparency is a mantra cited in respect of corporation tax but the State must respect the motorists of the country and give them the service they pay for heavily and deserve. The Minister is aware of the seven year rolling programme that existed prior to the current round of austerity. I do not seek to cast blame at the door of the Minister but it is vital we try to get back to an enhanced level of maintenance of the road network. At some point, we will reach breaking point and it will cost significantly more to bring the roads back to an acceptable standard.

Poor quality roads and those that become damaged have an effect on road safety and death on the roads. We all seek to reduce this. We often talk about enforcement and a greater level of detection by the Garda Síochána in respect of drink driving and speeding, but a significant part of the success achieved over the past ten to 15 years in reducing death and injury on the roads has been the significant improvement in the quality of our road network. Any deterioration has the capacity to reverse the progress made. The Minister is aware of the figures in the Government's publication, Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-16: Medium Term Exchequer Framework. It was published in November and contained significant cuts projected in the capital budget for roads over the coming years. The figures are €605 million in 2012, €278 million in 2013, €288 million in 2014 and down to €252 million in 2016. That will make it difficult to retain the road network in its current state and I have concerns about it. If there is a level of pick-up in the economy, perhaps the figures can be addressed again. The Minister must try to push his colleagues, particularly those in the Economic Management Council, to provide more funding.

The Minister referred to a paper he produced when he was a Fine Gael backbencher about the cull of quangos, and abolition of the RPA is part of the cull of quangos. The Minister will recall the photo opportunity his party engaged in prior to the previous general election and the document entitled 145 quango-ing...going...gone. It outlined plans to abolish or merge a range of State agencies. At the beginning of 2012, we were told that 48 quangos would be abolished or merged in that year, but by the end of 2012, it turned out that only one third of that number of so-called quangos, 17, were cut. The most recent update indicated that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, had plans to abolish 25 more quangos by the end of this year, on top of the 46 already culled. However, the figures combined come to 71, or less than half the 145 that was part of the Fine Gael proposal before the previous general election. Of the 46 quangos the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, says have been done away with, close to half of them are VECs that have been merged with education training boards. The Government's public service reform programme has focused on reducing services to the public and increased charges for local services. The Government continues to pay lip service to the concept of public service reform and concentrates its primary efforts on public relations and spin.

I do not include the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, in that. He set out something I accept and support, the process by which we appoint people to State boards. People should not be excluded because of a particular political leaning. It is all about what they bring to the organisation and whether this is a set of skills commensurate with the needs of the organisation. Their creed, colour or political affiliation and whether they are known to the Minister is irrelevant. I will never criticise any Minister in that regard. I supported the chairpersons the Minister brought before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications because I believe they were people of high standing with the capacity to do the job.

There is talk of whether the committee should have powers to veto, essentially, an appointment. In the circumstances I would not have had to use that, and neither would any member of the committee. Nevertheless, there is a recent example from the merged transport and communication committee. The chairperson-designate of EirGrid was brought before the committee and in the minds of most he had a relatively poor performance on the day, with all members of the committee questioning whether it was an appropriate appointment. Over the course of a week there was a major change of heart by the Government Deputies and Senators sitting on the committee, which meant the Whip system was brought into play so the individual concerned could be confirmed by the Minister and appointed by the Government.

There is an element of lip service in this regard, although by and large and in most cases, Ministers will bring forward people with the required skills etc. I do not want to get into particular details as I have nothing personal against the individual, who is a fine public servant. In my view and that of others, his skills and experience did not gel with the job at hand. If we are to be real about reform we must ensure that on the rare occasions when somebody does not fit the Bill that appropriate action will be taken by a committee that is given the power to indicate to the Government that it should not proceed with an appointment. That happens in the European Parliament and in the confirmation of Commissioners. People think they can sail through a committee examination if a Minister has approached them, and we have set the precedent of a committee examination being an irrelevance. In the one instance when such an examination was relevant, the Government nonetheless proceeded with the appointment. That is what I mean when I speak of an element of spin in the reform agenda. The issue should be reconsidered.

I support the vast majority of the Bill but section 17 would allow the National Roads Authority, NRA, to engage in the procurement of goods and services with regard to the regional road network. The Minister gave the example of purchasing road salt, which would be fine, as there were issues in that regard a couple of years ago because of a shortage of road salt when the crisis hit due to a duplication of effort by various local authorities. The provision is fine if it is just for that kind of purpose but I am concerned as to whether it provides the Government with a capacity to take away powers from local authorities. Is this opening the door to take away a greater level of service from local authorities? They have already lost control of water and their position is being undermined in many other areas. Are we further undermining the power of local government in this respect or is this just an opportunity to operate shared services and therefore reduce costs through bulk buying? I have no problem with that but if this is the beginning of a process of removing the roads function from local authorities, I would have a problem with it.

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