Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 11, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:“(3) The Minister shall require the Authority to publish a cost-benefit analysis of each road project a minimum of six months before approval of the project.”.

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am particularly indebted to him and to the House because they facilitated a rearrangement of the timetable for very busy people. I was not released from the banking inquiry until a few minutes ago. Having taught in this area for a number of decades, however, I thought I could attend the House to assist the Minister. I could have waited for the next Roads Bill but goodness knows when that might be. I do appreciate, however, everyone in the House facilitating this rescheduling.

I welcomed the discussion we had on Second Stage. I support the Bill virtually in its entirety. Do the two measures before the House improve the legislation? I will try in a few seconds to make the case that they are of value to the task, which the Minister explained to us the previous day, by improving resource allocation in this area and bringing together engineering expertise from two agencies. In a facilitatory frame of mind, that is what I have set before the House.

Section 16 gives the Minister procurement functions. It states that where the Minister considers it would be convenient, expeditious, effective or economical for the authority to arrange various functions, the Minister may allow for that. The second goes on to outline them.I accept the Minister's invitation. My first proposed amendment in that section is to accomplish the goals of ensuring that our decisions are expeditious, effective and economical. As the Minister knows, the technique to evaluate road investment is a cost-benefit analysis developed in the United Kingdom, a technique called COBA, used for the first time on the Naas bypass which was the first piece of motorway built in the State and showing a rate of return. It is a project that has continued to earn that rate of return. We have considerable research in that area but we have limited funds.

We should avoid building motorway capacity, which is up to 55,000 vehicles a day, on routes where that volume is not likely to be achieved. We might say we built the national motorway system under a particular scheme in conjunction with the European Union. That is now in place and nobody would suggest it should be dismantled. The level of service requirement and doing a cost-benefit analysis are important to ensure we do not build motorways in the wrong place at a time of constraint in the public finances.

The techniques exist. The ready rule of thumb would be that if the likely demand at any foreseeable time in the future is considerably less than 55,000 vehicles a day it is not worth taking on the heavy constructions costs of a motorway. The purpose of the amendment is to undertake the analysis before we embark on the project and know whether it is worthwhile. For the extra costs to bring the capacity up to 55,000 vehicles a day, I do not believe there are any extra benefits. One benefit is speed, allowing one to drive up to the speed limit if the same level of service is retained. Another benefit is safety, which is retained once there are grade-separated intersections. Once there is a dual carriage roadway the safety of modern roads improves.

That is the first point I would make in that regard. Let us not plan on building a road with a capacity of 55,000 vehicles a day in a place where there is no possibility of getting to that volume in any foreseeable timeframe. It would improve value for money in the roads budget if we have built in an analysis that advises the Minister and the authority, despite whatever other pressures there might be to build a motorway from A to B, that it does not come up in the cost-benefit analysis as a project other than one that would take money from other projects that the Minister or other Ministers might have in mind.

The purpose of the amendment is that in its procurement functions the authority should carry out an analysis to ascertain whether a project is worthwhile. We should tailor the roads budget to delivering the maximum return.