Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McGuinness for raising this important Topical Issue matter. As he knows, I will meet Deputies from the area in question tomorrow. This is a matter that concerns them all. I know the Deputy has raised it on their behalf today. Before I refer to the scripted reply, I think it is reasonable for me to say that the Deputy has made a fairly compelling case. I intend to tell the Deputies at tomorrow's meeting that I am planning to ask Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to respond to them and to report to me on this road purely in terms of safety. I think that is the case Deputy McGuinness has made. I hear many pleas for roads projects on Topical Issue matters, but it is unusual for me to hear such a compelling case from a safety perspective. If the statistics mentioned by the Deputy are right, and they may well be, I think this should be looked at. There is no adequate answer when there are road deaths, or when there is a lack of road safety. Perhaps the road is not as bad as the Deputy has suggested, but if it is that bad, he deserves to get a serious and considered response.

As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I am responsible for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual national road projects is a matter for TII under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. The assessment and prioritisation of individual projects are matters for TII in the first instance, within its capital budget, in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act 1993. Therefore, decisions relating to the N24 are operational matters for TII. As I have said, I will ask TII for a direct response to what the Deputy has had to say. The capital plan that was published in September 2015 outlined the Government's proposed transport investment priorities to 2022. The transport element of the plan was framed by the conclusions reached in my Department’s strategic investment framework for land transport. This report highlighted the importance of maintaining and renewing transport infrastructure and making targeted investments to address particular bottlenecks and critical safety issues. The capital plan provides €6 billion for investment in the roads network in the period to 2022, with €4.4 billion earmarked for the maintenance and strengthening of the existing extensive network throughout the country and €1.6 billion earmarked for new projects.

Allowing for the commitments relating to public private partnership projects, the balance available for new projects within the available capital envelope is limited. As Minister, I have to work within the annual allocations set out in the plan. In this context, the capital plan provides for a gradual build-up in capital funding from the current relatively low base towards the levels needed to support maintenance and improvement works. It will take some years under the capital plan to restore steady-state funding levels for land transport. There will have to continue to be a focus on the maintenance and renewal of infrastructure. There will be a significant ramp-up in funding from 2020. This will facilitate the construction of the road improvement projects included in the plan.

While available funding is not sufficient to address all the demands for improvement schemes, including schemes such as the upgrade of the N24, by the end of the plan period, I expect that capital funding for the road network will be back up to the levels needed to support maintenance and improvement works in the future. On the possibility of additional funding within the plan period, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform indicated in his budget speech that he is bringing forward the capital plan review. There is a strong case for additional funding for the transport sector, which I will make robustly.

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