Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

I second the amendment moved by Senator Dooley. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, to the House for this important debate and I await his comments.

Senator Paddy Burke spoke about the possibility of developing a railway line between Navan and Dublin. There was some good news for the County Meath area when the Book of Estimates was published last week. The provision of €60 million over the next three years for the construction of a railway station in the docklands of Dublin will facilitate the development of a railway line part of the way to Navan, from the existing line at Clonsilla to Clonee and Dunboyne. Iarnród Éireann plans to develop a major park and ride facility at Pace, on the road to Navan just inside County Meath near the border with Dublin. The facility will take a great deal of traffic off the road.

It is clear to those of us who attended the committee meeting last week at which the NRA representatives spoke on the M50 upgrade that we are building a great many roads. With the recently opened bypasses at Monasterevin and Cashel, one can almost traverse the country on dual carriageway or motorway. Essentially that simply gets the traffic into Dublin faster. When one enters the city now, one must pass a modern version of a medieval gate called the M50, with interchanges. I have described it as such because it is essentially a ring around Dublin through which cars must pass and where there is congestion every day, if not every hour. It is patently obvious that we are not increasing road space within the M50. We must seriously consider why we are getting traffic into Dublin faster and over the M50 by means of a major upgrade if that traffic has nowhere to go.

That brings me to rail. I beseech the Minister to bring to his colleagues my concern that further massive investment must be put into the railways as a way of achieving a modal shift from cars. We have spoken of it now for close to a decade, since the Dublin transportation initiative, or DTI, was initially established, setting out its parameters for how traffic would be taken from the roads and people would choose public transport. The only way that it can happen is if we have a seismic shift in our attempts to address the issue. When one looks at the amounts being spent on roads, one sees they are vast and they will continue to be so over the next five years. That will lead to what Senator Dooley calls balanced regional development and assist the regions.

Those concerns must be addressed and I hope that will happen. I have made known the concerns of those who have been writing to me regarding the Hill of Tara. Regrettably, one must accept the present position. When one examines the proposed scheme of 49 km from Clonee to Kells, one sees that one must also ask what is the realistic alternative. Some Senators opposite have suggested removing 3 km to 5 km around the Hill of Tara. Obviously, no matter where one goes in that entire area, there will be archaeological remains, and I hope those remains will be studied, researched and recorded. Ultimately, we cannot keep on conducting reviews. The scheme has been on the cards for five or six years and has been in all the studies regarding what was going through. There has been extensive public consultation. One might say that, if one were starting again, one would not start from here, but the consultation process is over, and the submissions have been made. The preferred route has been altered. If we were to set about choosing an alternative route at this stage, the precedent that it would set, the delays that might mount up and the great associated costs would have to be taken into account.

The road is obviously being built to deal with the substantial volumes of traffic on that entry corridor. I live in the Dublin West constituency, which is the gateway to that entire area. Navan, Dunshaughlin and all the towns further out have been developed at a phenomenal rate over the past five years. The congestion that it has caused in those villages and towns must be addressed, and that is what the M3 motorway seeks to do. As I say, I have no doubt that the Minister will address the comments made by Senators this evening and if for no reason other than this, I welcome this debate.