Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the face of it, to merge the Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, and the National Roads Authority, NRA, is a reasonable and sensible suggestion. Sinn Féin will not oppose the Bill, although we will consider possible amendments to different aspects of it. Our transport infrastructure should, in as much as much as possible, be joined up and work in harmony to provide the best service for commuters, businesses and the general public in going about their daily lives and business. To combine the knowledge, expertise and experience of the many very qualified people working in both these bodies is unlikely to be of anything other than a benefit to the development and delivery of infrastructure projects into the future. With many of these issues the devil can be in the detail and so plans must be proceeded with carefully, stakeholders should be consulted and there should be minimum disruption caused to workers and existing projects.

The idea of merging the RPA and NRA came from Mr. Colm McCarthy's bord snip report; at least, that is what I believed until I heard the Minister's comment that he had suggested it in the past. The report proposed a raft of measures which, if implemented fully, would have torn the country apart. I am thankful that despite some similar inclinations in the ideology of this Government, the bord snip recommendations have not been applied to the letter. In this case, Mr. McCarthy's recommendation was good, but this is mostly from the point of view of making a better body which would better serve our needs; Mr. McCarthy's reasoning was purely to cut costs and only following an impact assessment was it confirmed that real benefits could be made from this move beyond the short term and in all to often misleading savings figure. This Government has shown itself not immune to using crass and false figures to sell ideas instead of relying on convincing on the basis of merit. We saw this most perfectly exemplified in the Seanad referendum poster which did a lot of damage to the credibility of the "Yes" campaign.

Since the bord snip report, many of our State bodies have been considerably cut and slimmed down. This is very definitely the case with the Railway Procurement Agency, which has lost 115 employees over the past three years. To achieve the minimum saving mentioned by the Minister of €3 million, a reduction in staffing of 30 is required but where do these redundancies come from, what positions are being made surplus to requirement, is there potential for redeployment of these workers, how will that be implemented and if there is no redeployment how much will these redundancies cost? These are all questions we need the answers to so we can better decide the real potential savings from how this Bill lays out the merger. Despite obvious benefits, it is not an excuse to proceed with the merger in just any way the Government decides, as it must be done carefully to ensure that benefits are not unduly offset by the negatives or other problems which could arise.

Everyone can agree that the idea that the new body would be able to significantly cut down on consultancy fees is a good thing. There is a need for a move away from a culture of throwing money at consultants to do work, which in some cases is unnecessary and in most other cases could be done in-house or for much less. The recent scandal over payments to consultants for work for Irish Water has the public mind focused on these issues and so the idea of cutting these costs would be very welcome. In some ways it might seem strange that the new unified body will not have a new name but in the short term the savings this brings are preferable to potential public confusion. Irish Water's logo is very simple and could have been created by any second year multimedia student but it cost €20,000, so any chance of avoiding such waste should be taken. This practice has not been adopted not because there were no in-house people to do the job but because a culture built up in the Fianna Fáil years which was all about throwing money at things, all too irregularly focused on the real needs of society which these bodies are to provide.

Currently we have many issues facing us in transport infrastructure. The Luas cross-city project must be delivered in a timely and efficient manner, and its success is essential to the further development of our capital and its public transport network. That is not to say it is a perfect project, as the disruption which the project will cause could have been avoided with a better plan. The failure to link the two lines on the south of the city is a great disappointment.

We continue to operate without rapid transit to the airport. Dublin Airport is unusually close to the city centre for a main airport and this should be made an advantage as much as possible. Currently, public transport options for travelling to the airport are limited to shelling out for an express bus like the No. 747 or paying nearly €2.50 for a bus to be taken half-way around Santry. I doubt many tourists or business people visiting Ireland are particularly eager to spend an extra 15 minutes on the bus so they can get a good look around the Beaumont area before reaching the city centre. The new transport infrastructure service must work to deal with that very big gap in our system.

The talk of the Swiftway rapid bus service is promising, but it sounds like a major project. In the past major projects have been delayed time and again. We all remember from the late 1990s the graphics of Luas trams passing College Green. The Swiftway service should be a public service operated by CIE.

We have shown that public transport can turn a profit if it is well run. The Luas, despite its limitations, has been well run and its niche market has ensured profitability. Unfortunately, much of the profit has gone into private hands, as we have allowed it to be run by private interests. Not all public transport services can or will be profitable. As transport is an essential public service, we must allow any profit to help pay for losses elsewhere in order that there will be an accessible system for as many people as possible. That is why Fine Gael's desire to privatise bus services is so worrying. As Fianna Fáil started with the banks and Fine Gael continued, we seem intent on privatising the gains and nationalising the losses only.

Another major challenge for the new body is the road network. We have many expensive tolls for roads long since paid for. On other roads where numbers have fallen, we have been subsidising toll companies. The Minister has said he will not allow this to happen again and I hope he is sincere in that regard. He should, as soon as possible, end the subsidisation of private toll operators and start to use the proceeds from tolling for the upkeep of roads and the removal of certain tolls.

The merger of the two bodies gives rise to issues concerning pensions, pay, the loss of jobs, the transfer of assets and the possible off-loading of some buildings and other functions. I am sure the trade unions have had a good input. As I said, the merging of two boards makes sense. The Minister's indication that the public will have a greater role in State boards is important. I am in favour of accountability to the Committee of Public Accounts, which is a very good idea. I pay homage to the staff of the Railway Procurement Agency and the National Roads Authority, with many of whom I have worked during the years. I look forward to the progress of the Bill.

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