Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak. It must be me, but it is becoming something of a habit that the Opposition is tripping over itself to contribute. It probably is not a Standing Order but if ever there was an opportunity to pass a motion of no confidence in an Opposition, it probably is long overdue. I will not include Deputy Terence Flanagan in the Opposition, as he is more in transition than in opposition. At the outset, I welcome the Bill because it fulfils a commitment given in the programme for Government to reduce the number of State bodies and organisations. I find it ironic that Deputy Broughan has been bemoaning it, because he has no problem in voting for it in the programme for Government in the first place. As for the showering of doom, gloom and negativity spewed out by Deputies Broughan and Nulty, they finished as they started. It was the most negative drone I have heard in this Chamber for a long time. The Government is attempting to streamline agencies into particular areas of expertise and no area is more important for the country's infrastructure than the rail and road authorities that currently are in situ. It is worth asking whether this is the opportune time to do it, given the improvements made to the motorway networks, as well as to the rolling stock and rail networks with the development of Luas and so on. The answer of course is it is. While one would love to be in a position in which the Government was able to deal with some of the issues raised by Deputy Nulty, the Alice-in-Wonderland-type economics from which Sinn Féin suffers appears to have streamed across to the benches occupied by Deputies Broughan and Nulty and all the Members there appeared to be suffering from it. While they criticised the Minister of State and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in respect of the proposals before the House today, at no stage had they a suggestion about from where the money would come to reverse all the bad things about which they were talking. Neither would I expect them to so do. However, to be any kind of responsible Opposition, they first should take responsibility for what it is they are suggesting.

The Bill before Members provides an opportunity to raise a number of issues. While it merges the Rail Procurement Agency, RPA, and the National Roads Authority, NRA, I have found an issue, in consultation with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, regarding a constituency matter, namely, the Adare bypass and it is an issue the Minister should bear in mind. At present, the Rail Procurement Agency is allowed to engage with An Bord Pleanála in a type of pre-planning consultation, for want of a better expression. The Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 that established the RPA provides for that. Basically it states that "within 28 days of acknowledging such an application, the Minister shall, after consultation with An Bord Pleanála, appoint a person to be an inspector to hold the inquiry referred to" elsewhere in the Act. This provision is not available in respect of the National Roads Authority, which essentially is precluded at present from engaging in a pre-planning consultation. This leads to a fundamental problem that has arisen in Dingle, Slane and recently in Adare, whereby vast sums of money are spent on plans that do not materialise into anything but plans. An Bord Pleanála is statutorily allowed to turn down applications for major road infrastructure projects without providing a rationale to either the planning authority or to the National Roads Authority. The result is the latter are working in the dark and must then submit a further set of plans, which may or may not take the conditions the board has raised.

While I intend to raise this matter on Committee Stage by way of an amendment, I note that Part 4 of the Bill as construed at present refers to amendments of the Roads Acts 1993. The Minister of State should specifically consider an amendment of section 18 of the 1993 Act, which allows for preparations of plans by the NRA and similarly, an amendment of section 22 of the Act, which would allow for pre-planning consultations to take place between the NRA, the planning authority and An Bord Pleanála. The reason I seek to have this done is to ensure one avoids situations such as in Adare at present, where it is not known whether another planning application for another route for the Adare bypass will avoid falling on the same hurdle as did the first one. It makes absolute sense that pre-planning consultation would be allowed, particularly in respect of strategic infrastructure. Moreover, such pre-planning consultation should be forwarded to the local authority in order that the local authority members could deliberate on it, because it may mean, for instance, that a variation in the development plan from which they are working is required. It is a simple thing and as I noted here in the Chamber recently on a Topical Issue I had tabled to the Minister, one would not build a house without a pre-planning meeting with one's local authority yet at present one potentially can build a motorway without such a pre-planning consultation and this is absolutely bizarre.

The national primary roads running through my constituency are the N21, N24, N69 and N20 and like every other constituency, they are in dire need. This is true in particular in the context of their linking of Limerick to Waterford, Galway, Cork, Tralee and Foynes on the Shannon Estuary. In the context of the Rail Procurement Agency being merged with the National Roads Authority, progress should be made on the reopening of the Foynes railway line for freight. I acknowledge the monopoly position to convey freight on rail has been lost by Irish Rail and a competition element now exists but there probably is no better location in the country for the future development of rail than between Limerick and Foynes. The latter is the deepest port in the country and conveys a huge amount of bulk cargo. As matters stand, a rail line runs directly into the middle of the port, there is future mining potential in east County Limerick and reopening the line would remove a huge number of heavy goods vehicles from the N69 through villages such as Kildimo and Clarina, as well as Foynes village itself. Moreover, it would allow for proper infrastructural development in the region and would constitute joined-up thinking. I urge the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, through the Minister of State, to make every effort to ensure that Irish Rail is on board regarding the work that must be done.

Earlier, I mentioned the planning issues confronting Adare with regard to the N21 but that is only half of the problem. Were the Minister of State to travel tomorrow to Killarney, Kerry or anywhere in Limerick, there is a huge problem that is not limited to Adare but which moves on to Newcastle West and to Abbeyfeale.

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