Results 1,681-1,700 of 28,190 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I will not give the Deputy a specific timeframe because I do not have it. It depends on what the allocation is in the NDP review. It is dependent upon that. As I said to Deputy O'Gorman, there is a process. In July, there will be a conclusion to the review of the NDP. We will come back in September regarding how we will have allocated that across the Vote, about which I am happy to come...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I am guided by advice I get from experts. The review did not recommend the Claremorris to Sligo section but it noted it should be looked at on a regular basis. That is the position at present. My position does not differ from the position my officials articulated to the committee last week when it had its briefing.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: No. The 41 intercity rail cars that I mentioned as now being in operation were in addition. What will happen is when electric carriages go on the other intercity and DART carriages, and on the northern commuter line, that will free up other rail cars to be moved to other lines. These will be additional, so it will increase our fleet by 185 carriages, or in that order. That will be an...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: It will start happening from late next year. From late 2026, we will see further additional carriages going on to the regional lines. It will be late next year, in quarter 4.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy will know, as he is a TD in the region, and I certainly do, given that I know Galway very well, that it is part of the solution. It is not the overall solution, but the reason for the delay in the Galway ring road is constant objections to the road, an inability by people to make decisions and people blocking it. They are entitled to have a view but it is not one I share. I...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Of course I am concerned about it. That is why I brought forward the Planning and Development Act 2024 last year in the Dáil, which the Deputy's party opposed, to streamline planning, set statutory timeframes for planning for An Bord Pleanála and define for the first time if observations are made or judicial reviews taken, the basis on which these are taken and to bring forward a...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I said that new carriages would make a difference. The Deputy acknowledged that, which I appreciate. We have significantly increased funding for an accessibility retrofit programme. It is up to €25 million per annum. All new infrastructure is designed with universal access principles, but some stations require changes to platforms, which we are doing. That is under way. I can...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: There is. There is a commitment in the programme for Government, agreed by the Government, to advancing driver exchange with the United States. The real complication is the exchange has to be done with each individual state. It is not on an overall national basis. We have started work on that. I met Minister of State, Neale Richmond, a couple of weeks ago about this. We have identified...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his engagement regarding road projects. He has been very vocal on that matter. Cork is the largest county in our country. If we look at the road network across Ireland, there are over 100,000 kilometres of road. That is one of the largest road networks per capita in the European Union. We have a very extensive network. We work with our local authorities, which...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: For clarity, do they receive any funding at the moment?

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I will have a look at that.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy can be sure I will ask my team to take up the matters relating to those two roads with Cork County Council. We will also come back on the inshore search and rescue.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The reason there is no line item for new trams in 2025 is that there is no provision for them this year.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: To be fair, the Deputy has raised this with me, particularly as it relates to capacity on the red line. That is something we will raise, and which I think has been raised with the operator following his previous intervention. We had a good discussion on oral questions last night on the question of the project office for Luas. I will look into that in further detail. I think most will...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I should have congratulated the Deputy at the outset on his appointment as party spokesperson on transport. I look forward to working with him and colleagues like Deputy Crowe to advance our plans and objectives over the course of this. On safe routes to school, in my home town of Malahide, we delivered another safe route to school outside Pope John Paul II school. The delays to that were...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: No, not right now. I want it done as quickly as we can. We have to get it right. To be fair to the team here, we have done a fair bit of work with it. There are options there and we need to select which options. We had a good meeting with the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and his team last week. It is clear there are no impediments from the justice side. I just wanted to make...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: It is interesting the Deputy raised that point because as one travels around Dublin, one can see the differences in quality of roads in some local authorities. I say that as a road user. I often wonder why that is the case. Is it the prioritisation of certain things within a local authority? Where specific issues are raised with me as transport Minister, I will raise them with the local...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: We have embarked on a reform agenda within the RSA and there will be changes to the organisation. I think it is fair to say that the RSA has become much more than it what it was originally envisaged to be, taking on the NCT, driver testing and the whole road safety education piece. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and I have engaged directly with the RSA in respect of driver testing....

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Good point. As regards Dublin Mid-West, and I know the Deputy has been very vocal and a really strong advocate for his constituents there as regards the additional provision of public transport capacity, light rail will be a game changer where he is and the DART+ programme will be extremely important, as will Luas Lucan. We will have to manage these things over the next few years but we are...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: We are fortunate in this country to have four well-resourced international airports. We have Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Ireland West Knock, all of which are growing. As regards Shannon in particular, and I have met the management team from Shannon, the airport has capacity for up to 10 million passengers without any requirement for any significant infrastructural changes there. Our...