Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for repeating the wholly inadequate response he gave me in reply to a parliamentary question. The excuse from the Government is "Brussels made me do it". The then Minister, now Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, said he was being directed by Brussels on the projects that were to be included. We now know that to be false because the then MEP, Brian Crowley, wrote to the EU Transport Commissioner at the time and her response was that member states retained "substantial sovereign rights" to decide on projects. The second excuse is that we did not have the money, that we had to cut projects and that we had to provide matching funding. Again, that is false. I direct the Minister to Decision No. 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 July 1996 which stated: "These projects shall form a common objective, the implementation of which depends on their degree of maturity and the availability of financial resources, without prejudging the financial commitment of a Member State or the Community". It is there in black and white. The Minister did not need to have the money in the bank to make the application. To date, no Government representative has explained why Fine Gael redrew the maps when it took over in government in 2011; why the north west was wiped off the map and the western rail corridor was taken off it. The Minister said the rail network had to be electrified. Once he realised that was not the case, did he go back to the European Union and ask for the western rail corridor to be included and if not, why not? I have still not received a response to my question on the criteria used by the then Minister to decide what projects would remain on the list and what projects would get the axe. From the maps at which I am looking, it was projects in the north west that got the axe, while everyone else was left alone.

The Minister has referred to the review of the TEN-T funding programme under way. It is due to be completed in 2023. We do not have five years to wait. In the context of Brexit, there is a renewed impetus to bolster transport infrastructure. Will the Minister seek to have the review conducted at the earliest possible opportunity?

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