Seanad debates

Thursday, 4 October 2007

1:00 pm

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

My motion relates to the metro north project. Before addressing the point, I stress the principles I seek to have addressed, which are first, accountability — we need to know who is responsible for major decisions about the taxpayers' money, and second, transparency — we need to be clear how the money is being spent and the purposes for which it is being spent.

The history of metro north is very clear. The need for such a project was identified in 1992. It then became part of the Transport 21 initiative in 2005 with its funding identified in the current national development plan. The total funding provided in that plan for public transport is approximately €12.6 billion, which leads me on to the cost of the metro project. The last time such figures were made clearly and proactively available by the Government was in 2002 when the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, identified the cost at approximately €1.2 billion. Since then, successive Ministers have refused to confirm or deny such a figure. It was only earlier this year that a freedom of information request seemed inadvertently to obtain a figure of €4.6 billion. If this figure is correct it would make the metro north project the largest single project ever undertaken in the history of the State. As such the degree of debate and scrutiny on it needs to be heightened.

The second relevant piece of information on the matter came from the former Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, recently, when he identified that he expected 34 million passengers to use the metro every year and for approximately 41,000 cars to be taken off the road. In placing the motion before the House I have simply joined those pieces together to raise a number of points in need of response from the Government. If the €4.6 billion figure is correct — the Government has neither confirmed nor denied it — the cost per taxpayer will be at least €22 per trip based on work I have had done independently. If that is correct the cost will be more than five times the equivalent trip on the Luas. That point needs to be discussed and teased out.

The passenger figures released by the Government of 34 million trips per year indicate a degree of success that are multiples of what similar projects enjoy in other countries. If the figure was correct and the figure of the Minister, Deputy Cullen, of 41,000 cars being taken off the road by the metro was correct, it would mean that 42% of car trips in the vicinity of the metro will go into the metro. If that is true, the nearest figure we have for other metro projects in Europe are for Madrid, which estimated 22% and Sheffield, which estimated a similar project at 21%. Many other projects across the UK have a displacement rate of approximately 12% to 13%. The assumption we have on the numbers of passengers who will use the metro are at least twice the best performance of a similar project elsewhere.

All those points lead to three simple questions addressed in the motion and on which I would appreciate a response. These are all policy issues and not operational matters for the RPA. Can the Minister of State confirm that the cost of €4.6 billion is correct? If that cost is correct this will be the biggest project the country has ever undertaken. Taxpayers and Members of the Oireachtas are entitled to know that figure. Can the Minister of State confirm whether a cost-benefit analysis of the project has been completed and whether the Government will make it available to public and Oireachtas scrutiny before a planning application is lodged by An Bord Pleanála by the end of the year? Can the Minister of State give a commitment on behalf of the Government that as the project really heats up the RPA's commitment to working with the local community and sharing relevant information in a timely fashion will be deepened. The local community in the area where the metro will be located is concerned about many aspects of the project and wants these matters addressed.

I am looking for a response on these policy issues as to how taxpayers' money will be spent on the largest project we have ever undertaken.

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