Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the Minister to the House and compliment and congratulate him on the sure-footed manner in which he is handling his very wide brief. I share the views of Senator Barrett more than those of Senator Reilly in relation to the tendering for 10% of the bus routes. I would appeal to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to call off the strike and to continue engaging in meaningful discussions. A strike is not in anybody's interest. It will only discommode the public. The commitments and guarantees as outlined by the Minister on conditions of employment are significant and should be taken on board by the unions concerned.When I saw that the RPA was to be merged with the NRA, it brought memories flooding back of a major announcement by a previous Administration some years ago when there was to be a major decentralisation of Government Departments into rural Ireland. The RPA was to decentralise to Ballinasloe, and there was great excitement and joy in the area. I can only reflect on the fact that we could have had the two organisations decentralised to Ballinasloe, which would make sense geographically, given that it is in the centre of Ireland and at the heart of many of the infrastructure improvements that are happening throughout the country. Alas, it was not to be. I congratulate the Minister on bringing forward the Bill and on successfully steering through a merger that has been recommended for some years. As Senator O’Neill said, the McCarthy report of 2009 recommended that the two agencies be merged in light of the fact that they were delivering very significant infrastructure and that it would result in significant cost savings.

I hope the merger will be a template for how things can be done well. It appears that everything on the human resources side regarding the transfer to the merged premises has been sorted out well. The cost savings are significant and tangible, with reductions in administration costs, the number of people on boards and chief executives’ pay. The wider benefit is that it combines the technical expertise in the NRA and the RPA. It is important that we make such savings on an ongoing basis to ensure we have resources available for investment in the very significant infrastructural projects that are ongoing and that will hopefully be planned in future years. The Minister referred to the M17 and M18 Gort to Tuam project, which comprises 53 km of motorway and 4 km of dual carriageway. It is a very significant piece of infrastructure for the west and will have major economic benefits for the western seaboard, making access for business and personal use much easier.

I hope that before long, as we slowly edge towards a solution for our transport problems in Galway city, when the final solution is put in place, the investment that will be required for road and, I hope, light rail infrastructure will be forthcoming. While the outer bypass of Galway city is necessary, and hopefully a route will soon be agreed for it, Galway city’s traffic problems will never be fully solved by road infrastructure, and a light rail system must be very seriously considered. Today is a significant day in that we merge two bodies that play a very significant role in developing transport infrastructure, and I echo the Minister’s statement that TII "will play a key role in maximising the contribution that the State's investment in transport can make to supporting our growing economy and meeting Ireland's longer-term economic ... and environmental objectives". I wish the Minister continued success and I have no doubt that the benefits of the merger will be seen in years to come as we deliver the projects in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner on all occasions.