Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much. I know the area he is referring to well.

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts, 1993 to 2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the operation and management of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.

In accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, each local authority has statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local roads. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State road grants.

In the case of the Dublin councils, in view of the arrangements for the retention of local property tax, the council is required to largely self-fund its road programme. The implementation of its annual road maintenance programme is, therefore, the responsibility of the council.

Regarding the M50, in 2014 TII published a report on a study that was undertaken to identify a scheme of indicative demand management measures for the M50. The report, , identified a package of measures, including multipoint-variable distance M50 tolling.

I am just looking at the response I have, which relates to the M50 and TII's responsibility for national roads, but having listened to Deputy Lahart's introductory comments, that is not the issue he is looking to address; it is instead the local roads feeding into and crossing the M50.

I will put that response aside because, while it is all very useful information, it does not relate to the issue that the Deputy is addressing, which is local roads, and I know all of the various roads he is talking about. It relates to the M50 in one sense, which is that the M50 itself is at full capacity. There is nothing we can do about all the junctions and other feeder roads on and off the M50, which are at full capacity, and, therefore, there are no other traffic management measures that we can take.

The Deputy said that the key point is whether we can accelerate the bus services to help cope with congestion, which is a very serious issue on all of the approach roads on and off the M50. My answer is that, "Yes, we should". We need to do it because we have real issues around traffic congestion, reducing emissions and the quality of life for our citizens. I will give one example of where that has started to happen. Traffic management measures have recently been introduced in Dublin city centre through a pathfinder project, which will do similar to what the Deputy is suggesting along the quays at relatively low cost and without major civil engineering works. The measures were put in place and, two or three months later, my understanding is that they seem to be working in the sense that bus speeds and bus numbers have increased.

My answer to the question is “Yes.” It is a matter for South Dublin County Council in conjunction with the NTA because it has to come from local leadership and it cannot be centralised. As Ministers, or even as Dáil representatives, we cannot go around the country saying that people have to do this on this road and do that on the other. It has to be the local council. I absolutely support and encourage this. We need to get local councillors to take similar measures, particularly ones that we can introduce quickly. Some of the roads involved are wide distributor roads. My answer is “Yes.” We should be looking for the local council to accelerate this, even for measures that may come under the BusConnects network corridor developments. Could we introduce some of those earlier to accelerate bus speeds?

We should be careful about putting cycling provisions and bus provisions in conflict because both are needed. South Dublin County Council has done a good job with the cycling projects has introduced. Nonetheless, they are controversial. It is never easy to change anything but I would be slightly nervous if it was depicted that the cycle lanes are the problem. The problem is congestion and the number of cars. My primary answer is “Yes” but it is the local authority that will have to do it.

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