Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House for this debate on rural transport policy. Sometimes when we speak about transport policy in this House, we seem to think primarily in terms of transport in Dublin. I note that all the speakers are from rural areas, except for the Minister of State and myself. I will not dwell on that aspect too much because it has been given a good airing so far.

The Minister of State in his contribution referred to the Platform for Change document. He said that this document should be digested. For anyone who cares to read it, I must warn them they will get indigestion. Every figure in the document is wrong and every forecast is way off. I do not blame the authors but they have not kept pace with new forecasting techniques and the manner in which the economy has moved along. The only certainty in the report is that the figures forecast for 2016 are already with us. We are experiencing 2016 levels of traffic around Dublin and around the country. The off-peak hours of a few years ago are now the peak hours but still the 2004 levels of investment apply. The Minister of State believes we have almost achieved catch-up but I think we have many miles more to go. We need to get to the 2016 levels of expenditure now and we cannot wait a further ten years.

I take great exception to some of the advice being given to the Department. It is working on the advice of the DTO but also that received from the NRA. In yesterday's Irish Independent, National Toll Roads stated that putting 7,000 extra trucks on the M50 as a result of the tunnel will lead to massive sprawl on the M50 at a time when it is being upgraded. It is as if the major players are warning that we should not come to them in five years because they told us this five years ago. The NRA stated at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport that the M50 will be at capacity on the day its upgrading is completed.

The plans for the upgrading of the M50 are quite advanced. As an example of the lack of joined-up thinking, only three weeks ago at the public inquiry dealing with the upgrading of the M50, the consultants to the NRA did not know about the bus depot at Harristown which will be opened next week by the Taoiseach. It will cater for 240 buses and is situated at the Ballymun interchange.

I contacted the NRA last week and asked what the levels of traffic at the Blanchardstown interchange would be when the M50 is upgraded and the Dublin Port tunnel and the M3 are open in a few years. The answer from the NRA was that it was not its responsibility, that it was upgrading the M50 and that it had not computed those figures.

I asked if the NRA had taken into account the proposal for a rail link to Dunboyne which is likely to happen. The reply was that this had not been considered by the NRA. I asked if it had taken into account the fact that there might be a carpark for 1,200 cars in Dunboyne to accommodate park and ride. The reply was that this had not been considered. I insisted that I should be told the figures for traffic that would use that junction. I was told that when it is all done, traffic which currently travels at 5 km/h along the Navan Road will travel at 40 km/h. If traffic will be travelling at 40 km/h, the only certainty is that everybody will be driving and will not use the train if the roads are so good. It beggars belief that the NRA can say that the M50 will be at saturation point when the upgrade is finished and at the same time suggest that traffic will be able to travel at 40 km/h.

When the M50 was first mooted only 25 years ago — and it is not yet completed — there was also supposed to be an outer ring route. Some 23 out of 24 councillors in the Fingal area voted in May 1999 to sever that route which was always on the old Dublin County Council map. I was the councillor who was the exception. Erroneous comments have been made that the toll plaza is the point of congestion. The interchanges, rather than the toll plaza, are the problem, as I witnessed this morning. Although traffic was backed up beyond Clonee at Blanchardstown, drivers could fly into town once they cleared the interchange on the M50. In excess of 20,000 cars travel from Blanchardstown to Lucan along the M50 every day, clogging up interchanges on the M3 and M4 and being forced to pay a toll because there is no alternative except to go through Strawberry Beds or take the winding roads of west Dublin.

I welcome the Taoiseach's comment two weeks ago that an outer ring road is necessary. The local councils have still not even picked up the telephone to each other to discuss the possible location of an outer ring. In light of the time required to build the M50, I wonder how long it will take to build an outer ring road. We now have freeways running across the M50 from the M1, N3, N4 and N7, bringing traffic rapidly from the regions into town. On the other hand, we are not creating additional space inside the M50. I have no problem with reducing space. However, at the same time as Dublin City Council pursued a strategy which reduced car space and cut car numbers inside the ring by 11%, the National Roads Authority has pressed ahead with creating freeways that bring traffic into the city via interchanges.

Greater emphasis should be placed on the bus network. While the bus network and fleet have improved dramatically in recent years, quality bus corridors have not been given the priority they deserve. Despite major investment in QBCs, Dublin Bus has had to fight for every metre of white line along certain routes, whereas Luas, a fantastic system, has benefited from a railway order giving it priority, which I welcome. Buses must be given similar priority if we are to benefit from recent investment in the bus network.

I cannot understand the delay in announcing and proceeding with the Irish Rail five-year plan. It is a no-brainer that the plan is the correct way to proceed. While a metro would be a fantastic system, were it to be built, it would not be of much benefit to those living in Dublin's suburbs, which now stretch to Mullingar, Carlow and Dundalk. These commuters must get into Dublin either by road or rail and it is preferable that they do so by rail. Irish Rail's five-year plan should be implemented without further delay.

While I understand the Spencer Dock project is proceeding, we can no longer wait for significant investment in the rail network around Dublin. Projects to construct double tracking to Kildare, open the line to Dunboyne and build an additional station in the docklands to relieve congestion at Connolly Station must proceed. We have placed too much emphasis and invested too much time on the metro in recent years to the detriment of the regions. Young couples have been forced further and further out of Dublin into the regions. When we start canvassing in County Meath shortly, we will hear stories of people getting up at 6 a.m. to get through Blanchardstown. This is no longer tolerable. The economy is growing apace due to the policies of the Government. We must ensure, however, that people can get to and from work. I plead with the Minister of State to bring his energy to this task and identify what can be done to upgrade the rail network.

I was surprised by some of Senator Dooley's comments on the fantastic report produced on behalf of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland yesterday. The organisation did us a service by launching the Sorensen and Dukes report, around which I believe all future aviation policy will be debated. The report will stand the test of time. The authors took a positive approach and concluded that it is a question of when rather than if dual gateway status will be abolished. The Government must take a positive approach and seize the opportunities arising from it by introducing policy initiatives. Rather than regarding the end of gateway status as a threat, we must ensure our other airports, such as Shannon, Cork and Kerry airports to which the report also alludes, have proper access. In that regard, the Shannon rail link feasibility study should be concluded. I ask the Minister of State to ascertain from Irish Rail what progress has been made in this regard. The report concludes that Shannon Airport will only survive if it has proper road and rail access.

The report refers to a 10% improvement in the current 4% forecast of economic growth. It does not forecast additional growth of 10%, which would give a figure of 14% growth. This additional growth would provide considerable benefits to the tourism sector, which has significant untapped potential. These are challenges and opportunities we must pursue. We can no longer rely on a protectionist policy in the area of aviation because an EU-US open skies policy will ensure protectionism does not stand in the way of the development of aviation internationally.

There is no doubt our roads have improved dramatically. As Senator Dooley and others stated, it is a pleasure to travel to Cork since the completion of bypasses at Monasterevin and other bottlenecks. Despite these improvements, we must ensure our railway system receives the required investment.

Last week I raised the issue of the Dublin Port tunnel on the Adjournment and discussed the advice provided to the Government by the National Roads Authority. The NRA has seriously misled the Government on the port tunnel and this matter will have to be addressed in time. It raised safety concerns to cover up for its mistakes. It is erroneous to suggest that reducing the lane width of the tunnel to 3.5 m would give rise to safety concerns. This width is a European standard. For example, a tunnel between France and Spain, which was built in 1941 or 1942, is being replaced by a new tunnel built to 3.5 m gauge. This is allowed and it is all that is being asked for with regard to Dublin Port tunnel. It is inconceivable that we are digging a 12 m hole in the ground yet cannot find the few centimetres required to accommodate certain vehicles. Many thousands of jobs depend on getting our exports to their destinations. The current approach will result in smaller trucks being accommodated in the tunnel while larger trucks are kept on the city's streets. Dublin City Council will not be able to introduce a ban on the movement of supercube trucks which have been licensed by all Governments over the past 15 years. This should not happen because too many jobs are dependent on it. It is something the Department should consider in regard to the advice it receives from the NRA.

As part of the construction of the M3, a park and ride facility with capacity for 1,200 vehicles will be developed in Dunboyne. A mile outside Dunboyne, on the Navan side, there will be a toll booth. It displays a lack of joined-up thinking on the part of the NRA to suggest that people will pay a toll coming into town and pay again to avail of park and ride facilities before getting the train. The toll booth should be on the other side so that one pays a heavy toll on passing the carpark. There are cases in which the NRA has not looked at the other transport networks, as they have confirmed to me. I ask the Minister of State to utilise his own advisers in ensuring that the advice received from the NRA on some of these major projects is sound.