Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The credit goes to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. If Deputy Howlin was in office at the time, he can claim credit for anything he likes. Good for him for supporting it; I applaud him for doing so.

Since taking office I have become familiar with the concept of the TEN-T. While I was not in situat the time of its agreement, I am familiar with the background and rationale behind its development. TEN-T is focused on addressing bottlenecks and missing links in cross-border European transport infrastructure.

The regulations establishing TEN-T were not designed to cover the full transport network of each member state. In fact, I understand the previous regulations were deemed to be ineffective as the network was too large and spread too widely. The European Commission proposed, instead, the concept of a comprehensive network with a subset called the core network. Many elements of the transport network in the west and north west are on the comprehensive TEN-T network. This comprehensive network includes, on the western seaboard, rail links between Limerick and Galway, Dublin and Westport, Dublin and Sligo and Dublin and Galway. In the case of roads, it includes a number of major roads across the west and north west, including cross-Border roads, and other transport facilities such as the airports at Knock, Donegal, Sligo and Shannon as well as the port of Derry.

Within the comprehensive network, the core network links the main nodes or centres of the European transport system. On the island of Ireland, the core network includes the transport links from Belfast to Dublin to Cork with an offshoot to Shannon-Foynes. This characteristic of a wider comprehensive network, with a more limited core transport network, is similar to other member states. For example, across the Irish Sea, Scotland has no core network north of the Glasgow-Edinburgh line. Likewise large swathes of France and Sweden do not are without a core network. This is replicated in many member states.

Inclusion on the comprehensive and core networks places legal obligations on member states. Generally, this means that core network infrastructure should be in place to the specified technical standards by 2030 and the comprehensive network infrastructure by 2050. The inclusion of a project on the TEN-T network does not give rise to any automatic entitlement to funding. Instead, funding decisions are on a competitive basis against projects from all across the European Union. Typically, these competitive processes - or calls - are significantly oversubscribed.

Matching co-funding is a prerequisite for projects put forward under calls for proposals. All TEN-T projects put forward must, among other things, have co-financing in place. The regulations provide for co-financing for works at up to 20 %, with up to 30% available to alleviate bottlenecks. In limited circumstances, co-financing of up to 40% can be provided for cross-border rail projects on the core network. With a co-funding rate of, for example, 20% for Exchequer-funded projects, the member state is still required to fund the remaining 80%.

Against the backdrop of a difficult economic climate in 2011, Ireland was required to consider the specific implications of the proposed network for its transport infrastructure, as well as its financial capacity to complete the technical specifications of its portion of the network within the timeframes proposed. This was against a backdrop of challenging management of State revenue and expenditure. In 2011 alone, the State recorded a deficit of €21 billion. The capital budget of the Department was reduced drastically during this period. It was cut from €2.1 billion in 2010 to €950 million in 2013. This was the economic reality at that time.

It was in this context that Ireland, as with other member states, liaised with the European Commission regarding its views on the appropriateness of the draft network in line with the proposed methodology and the affordability of the completion of the network at that time. This resulted in sections of the proposed network not ultimately being included in the final TEN-T maps agreed in 2013. However, my Department plans to make a comprehensive submission to the European Commission, in line with the commitment contained in A Programme for Partnership Government, for the Government to apply to the EU for the revision of the TEN-T core network, including in respect of the cross-border western arc. This submission will take account of the implications of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the UK’S departure from the EU and the impact this will have on our future transport connectivity. It will also take account of the Government’s plans under Project Ireland 2040 and the implications of the implementation of the national planning framework.

These issues and the intention to make a submission have been raised by my Department with the European Commission. The submission will call for an early review of Ireland’s TEN-T network. This would tie in with what the European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport, Ms Violeta BuIc, said during her visit to Ireland last October, to the effect that the extraordinary circumstances of Brexit call for extraordinary actions or solutions.

Notwithstanding the budgetary position of the State at that time, the Government proceeded with the largest transport project in this State since 2011. This was the Gort-Tuam motorway which opened last year and which was prioritised and delivered at the height of the economic crisis at a total cost to the Exchequer and PPP contractors of €1.149 billion. Since then the Government has agreed a hugely ambitious roll-out of infrastructure projects across the State under Project Ireland 2040. Within this plan, the Government recognises the importance of transport links in the regions, and particularly between the north west and other parts of the country. The plan prioritises transport projects such as the N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin, the N5 Westport to Turlough, the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramogue, the A5 road development and the Galway city ring road. These improved links, and others contained in Project Ireland 2040, when constructed, will address shortfalls in connectivity between the regions and enhance connectivity to our international gateway ports and airports.

This in turn will assist in overcoming some of the potential fallout from Brexit. Speaking of connectivity, I fully appreciate that the decision of the UK to leave the European Union could negatively affect Ireland’s connectivity to the wider world, particularly for trade. One immediate implication identified was our ability to continue to use the UK landbridge as an efficient and timely route for our goods to make their way to European markets. While the EU-UK Brexit negotiations are ongoing and the future EU-UK relationship remains uncertain at present, the Government is working to ensure that Ireland’s use of the UK landbridge can and will continue in as seamless a manner as is possible. It is clear that Brexit may result in new or increased direct shipping routes from Ireland to continental Europe, and this is already happening and is welcome.

Providing greater transport options can only be of benefit to our exporters and imports. Nevertheless, the Government is conscious of the continuing critical importance of the landbridge to many sectors of our economy and will continue to work with the European Commission, Mr. Michel Barnier’s team and our EU partners to minimise any potential impact. The Irish Maritime Development Office, IMDO, in conjunction with my Department, is currently finalising a study into the use of the UK landbridge by Irish importers and exporters. This study will seek to establish the volume of Ireland’s traffic using the UK landbridge at present, the likely consequences Brexit may have on our use of the UK landbridge and the various alternative options that may be viable. The study is expected to be completed shortly and will be published.

I am also undertaking a national ports capacity study, which will take account of Brexit and the future capacity requirements of our ports. The study will be completed later this year. The UK’s exit from the EU in 2019 highlights the importance of high-quality international maritime connectivity and the importance of continuing investment to further improve the quality of port facilities. This is relevant to all our ports of national significance, both tier 1 and tier 2 ports, given their potential role in maintaining transportation linkages with crucial EU markets. The Government’s national ports policy provides a supportive policy framework at national level to enable competition and investment within the port sector. This policy is complimentary to and a good fit with wider European policy and facilitates historically high level of capital investment being made in our ports’ infrastructure. At present, the ports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon Foynes are all undertaking major capital infrastructure programmes with a combined investment of close to €350 million, part funded by the European Union under the TEN-T Connecting Europe Facility, and designed to enhance capacity.

In support of these investments, a Government priority under Project 2040 is to strengthen access routes to our ports through upgrading and enhancing the road transport network. Examples of such investments include the ongoing development of the M11 to improve connectivity to Rosslare in the south east, the planned N28 Cork to Ringaskiddy road to improve access to the Port of Cork and the N21-N69 Limerick to Adare to Foynes road to improve access to Shannon Foynes Port. The combination of these investments will strengthen the overall ability of our maritime infrastructure to cope with the demands that may arise from Brexit. Nevertheless, after the UK leaves the EU, we will no longer share a land border with another EU member state and Ireland’s missing link to the rest of the EU will become the sea. Does the Leas-Cheann Comhairle want me to finish now?

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