Derek McDowell (Labour)

I accept that is a factor. The Minister promised he would have the critical infrastructure Bill in place to fast-track the decision making process so that people would be allowed a substantive objection but would not be allowed seven, eight or nine attempts, as is the case now. The port tunnel in my own constituency is such an example. First we had to change the development plan in Dublin. Then we lobbied for a change in the project to extend the northern portals. When we unexpectedly got that change we had to start the project all over again. We had to go back to the consultation process and deal with the same objections even though they did not relate specifically to the changes that had been made.

Everybody acknowledges the process is too slow and complex. A combination of parallel and consecutive processes delays the implementation of a project for years. There is a need to fast-forward projects to complete them in one process, which respects people's right to object but ensures we get the job done as quickly as possible if plans are approved.

With regard to mainline rail, Senator Ormonde expressed her delight that we will have over 100 more carriages on the tracks in the next two or three years. That is fine but again, we have been told this three or four times. There has not been an Estimates process in the past three or four years when we have not been told there would be several dozen additional items of rolling stock available the following year. I have lost track of this. I do not know whether they were made available or whether they are the same carriages that were double counted and announced time and time again. With the exception of the Belfast and Cork lines most of the rolling stock, as the Minister acknowledges, dates from the 1960s. It is cold, dilapidated, frequently full and sometimes dangerous.

It is beyond me how, after years of investment, it takes over three hours to get from Rosslare Harbour to Dublin. How can this be? How can it take three hours for a train to travel the 150 km from Rosslare Harbour to Dublin? In other European countries they have invested in fast trains, the TGV in France being the flagship, but there are others in Germany, Spain and Italy which cover 150 km in a half an hour. Nobody in Ireland is ambitious enough to argue for a TGV or anything remotely comparable, but it is not unreasonable to expect to get from Rosslare to Dublin in, for example, two hours. As it is, the rolling stock is terrible and the tracks are not up to speed, if Members will excuse the phrase. When the Leader was Minister, she secured quite a bit of investment in rail safety at the turn of the century. Much of that work was important and had to be done. It involved the underpinning of bridges, infrastructure along the line and the upgrading of tracks but, unfortunately, it did not lead to an improved service for commuters who use rail services. The fact is that the mainline rail service in 2005 is much the same as it was in 1997 when the Government took up office. We are now asked to believe that there will be a substantial jump in the next two years or three years. Let us hope that is the case because history does not give us great grounds for hoping it will be the case.

I would like to talk briefly about Dublin. A major element which can be criticised in the Transport 21 plan is the lack of any semi-interest in bus transport in Dublin. The Minister has responded to this since the publication of Transport 21 by saying he is waiting for Dublin Bus to come back to him with its various plans. Unfortunately, I do not believe this is the case. The Government announced in 2000 that it would examine the whole issue of bus regulation. We understood from the Minister of the day that what was in mind was some measure of competition between Dublin Bus and private operators in Dublin. Some of us were sceptical about it, and still are. Having said that, we do not object to it in principle if it makes sense on a particular route to put Dublin Bus up against a private operator. I certainly do not have a problem with franchising out new routes to private operators or getting Dublin Bus to compete with private operators for the tender.

However, the problem is that the Minister appears to have very little idea of what he wants to do. If ever there was a case of a Minister being ideologically driven, it was the way the former Minister, Deputy Brennan, dealt with this issue. He appeared in principle to want competition, but he had no idea how he would introduce it. The result is that we got nothing for a period of years and the current Minister is now giving us the same excuse that he cannot do anything until the bus market in Dublin is regulated. I do not believe the Government will introduce regulation of the bus market in Dublin. The bottom line is that had we acknowledged that five, six or seven years ago and decided to just invest in Dublin Bus and improve the QBC network and so on, we would be much better off now. If the Minister is going to do something about bus regulation, will he please get on with it? If he is going to opt out, then fine, let him say so and get on with the business of investing in Dublin Bus as things stand.

Much has been said about the west and the Atlantic corridor. Senator Dooley will be aware that I have an interest in this matter because my wife is from Clare and we visit the area on a regular basis. We vary our journey between the Limerick and Galway road, depending on which one happens to be getting any better at a given time. I think we will travel via Galway this year, given that by then the Kinnegad stretch will presumably be open, notwithstanding the toll. Anyone who examines the plan for the west would have to be more than a little cynical. On the face of it, the Atlantic corridor is a fine idea. However, if one examines the proposed route for the Atlantic corridor, very little of it has received serious investment over the past ten years. There has been no indication from the Government that it was a long-term plan. It is true that sections, such as the N18 between Ennis and Limerick, have received investment, but it has never been part of an overall plan. It lacks credibility for the Government to say, without any serious prior discussion, that it will carry out this work. It lacks much more credibility when one looks behind the plan and realises it is nothing more than a broad notion. There are no timeframes and very little serious intent to do anything about the issue.

Something similar must be said about the western rail corridor about which perhaps the Minister of State knows more. The interest groups that have been lobbying on the issue have been looking somewhat askance at the timeframes and asking how can it take up to 2015 to put in place a railway line, some of which already exists albeit in a relatively dilapidated form. The first element to be put in place is not, strictly speaking, part of the corridor at all. It is the improved commuter route from Athenry to Galway, which is needed. When talking about these commuter routes, it is worth saying that this is not just about Dublin. I freely acknowledge that Cork, Limerick and Galway have serious traffic difficulties which could be alleviated by a serious commuter rail system.

There has been talk for approximately ten years about improving the Midleton route in Cork, but precious little has been done about it. There has been some improvement on the line to Mallow but virtually none to Midleton. There has been talk about connecting Shannon Airport to Limerick for as long as I can remember and it still has not happened. The one improvement that has been carried out is the route between Ennis and Limerick. It was put in place hesitantly in that the services in place at the beginning were few and far between. There were three or four services a day, but that has now increased to eight. The standard of the rolling stock initially was terrible. The carriages used were the ones that were no longer deemed good enough to connect Limerick with Limerick Junction. They were suddenly shunted onto the route between Ennis and Limerick. There has been an improvement in the service but it has been very slow. It has taken approximately 15 years to get to a situation where there is a half decent service. Senator Dooley was correct when he said that there is a point when a service is thought to be sufficiently reliable and people will use the rail rather than the car. I am not sure we have reached that stage on the Limerick to Ennis route.

Transport 21 is full of plans about Luas. I would like to express a note of caution about Luas. A few weeks ago, I travelled for the first time on the Sandyford line, and there is no doubt it works exceptionally well. It works effectively as a railway line because it is a dedicated track. The tram moves very quickly between stations once it gets off-street in Charlemont Street. I travelled on part of the Tallaght line which works less well. I passed it mid-morning the other day around the Four Courts when it was full and moving very slowly. There is a real problem with on-street trams in Dublin because we are not used to them. They are potentially dangerous and travel far short of their capacity in terms of speed. I am not sure this will improve. Given our experience of the first year of operation of Luas, if it is to be taken seriously and used well, we must examine a service that has a dedicated track. This is why I agree with what Senator Norris said earlier that a metro is needed.

The economists have said the footprint of Dublin is not suitable for metro. These are the same people who told us, and still tell us, that one could not possibly justify a motorway from, for example, Dublin to Dundalk because sufficient cars would not use it. Admittedly there are times when the Dublin to Dundalk motorway is sparsely used. However, I do not think anyone in this House seriously believes that in ten years time we will be saying it is a pity we built that motorway because of all the open spaces. I suspect something similar is true of metro. Perhaps the footprint of the city does not stack up to keep all the economists happy just yet, but I believe, as does Senator Norris, that it is the way of the future, not just because it is my intuition, but because it is the experience everywhere else. It is the experience in cities that are far more diverse and have a bigger footprint than Dublin. We must learn from this. The quicker we do so, the cheaper it will be and the quicker we can get the work done. I would like to think I will still be alive when there is a metro line in Dublin, but I do not have great confidence that will be the case. That plan was also announced by the former Minister, Senator O'Rourke, approximately five years ago.

I do not want to sound entirely negative about the transport system. There have been significant improvements in recent years in terms of infrastructure but they have been desperately slow. Some have been inexcusably slow. I get no sense from the gestation of the plan or the way the current Minister and, more important, the Minister for Finance is dealing with the issue that there is a sense of urgency or ambition which will allow us, within a reasonable time, to transform our infrastructure. Roads, mainline rail and public transport in Dublin have improved since 1997 but they have not improved to the level people are entitled to expect.