James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I give my full support to this motion. We wait with bated breath to see how Senator Morrissey votes and hope to see him support the motion given his contribution in its favour.

How can a Government, which presents for our consideration a national spatial strategy, national development plan and the Dublin Transportation Office and Department of Public Enterprise document, A Platform for Change, with the accompanying implication of transport cohesion, ignore or not have the spatial intelligence or foresight to consider and put in place a coherent and viable transport strategy for our capital city?

While there is no denying that Ireland as a whole needs and must have major improvements to its transport infrastructure, the general public and particularly those residing, working and visiting Dublin are losing faith in the Government's ability to provide this essential development. We are currently lost in a maze of disconnected and seemingly dead-end transport projects. The much published and self-congratulatory national development plan of 1999 contained plans for dual carriageways from Dublin to all major cities and the Luas tram system in the capital.