Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

If I start making diary commitments for the Minister for Transport on the floor of the Dáil, I will find myself in a peculiar situation.

I will certainly pass on the Deputy's request as I am sure the Deputy will be in touch with the Minister's office also. I live in a county not too dissimilar to the Deputy's in relation to commuter issues. I do take the point that far too many people are spending far too long sitting in traffic. I take the societal points the Deputy makes about the impact it is having on quality of life, childcare arrangements and a whole variety of other things, including emissions in terms of people sitting in traffic. I want to directly address the transport issues but we also need to have a really integrated conversation around work in the 21st century. It is why the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, are leading the consultation on remote working. There is this idea that people have to sit in their car five days a week and travel for hours on end. Not everybody, but some people can successfully work in their community in remote working hubs, connected hubs or indeed in their homes. This can work for some businesses and some public services. I look forward to the outcome of that consultation.

Yesterday the Ministers with responsibility for transport announced the Department of Transport capital ceilings for 2026 to 2030. The Deputy will acknowledge that by any yardstick it is a very significant increase in investment. There is a breakdown in that for active travel, public transport, road networks, road safety, civil aviation, maritime transport safety and ICT. The Deputy will also note that in that, the largest budget for 2026 is in respect to €1.6 billion for the road network, closely followed by €1.4 billion for public transport, rising to €2 billion in 2027, €2.5 billion in 2028, €2.3 billion in 2029 and €1.9 billion in 2030.

Specifically on the issue of the Navan rail line, which I know is very important in the Deputy's constituency, the NTA's transport strategy for the greater Dublin area does set out a framework for transport investment over the 20-year period from 2022 to 2042. The issue of a rail connection between Dublin and Navan was re-examined as part of the development. The re-examination supported the development of a rail line from Dublin to Navan so it is a fact that it is required. The final strategy includes delivery of the line subject to the various planning and funding approvals. In 2024, the NTA did allocated funding to Iarnród Éireann for the establishment of a design team to commence work on the Navan rail line project. This work involves route option selection, and planning and design phases of the project. Iarnród Éireann commenced the procurement process for the pre-construction phase of the project and issued a tender to pre-qualified consultants at the end of May of last year. In November of last year, about a year ago, multidisciplinary consultants RPS were appointed by Iarnród Éireann for the duration of the project to work with the rail company's in-house project team. It is anticipated that a public consultation on the route options will now take place next year. That process will ultimately recommend the defined route and then allow the project to move forward to the business case stage, which will require it being approved in line with infrastructure guidelines as well. As the Deputy said, the Navan rail line is mentioned in the NDP, under a sectoral implementation plan. We had a debate earlier about what is and is not mentioned. This is mentioned in the plan. We are committed to the delivery of it.

I make one final point. The Deputy refers to times gone past and I know he has a view on this too. In times gone past, I do reckon there was an awful lot less around regulatory, planning, delays and likes as well.

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