Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I say "Goodbye" to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, and welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. While I welcome many aspects of this plan, I am deeply disappointed, as we see major rail and light rail projects being kicked further down the road. I will talk about Dublin initially. The MetroLink and Luas connections to Lucan, Bray and Poolbeg are all stalled for at least another ten years. Despite the rail line to Navan being the largest single issue raised during the strategy's consultation, a shovel will not be lifted this side of 2031. Meanwhile, the DART underground, a project that was originally considered in a 1972 transportation in Dublin study, has been shelved altogether, but might be revisited after 2042. That is a mere 70 years later. To be frank, 70 years thinking about one project is unbelievable.

I want to focus on a couple of key questions. It is a pity I have just missed the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, but I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, will do his best to respond to me as well. My questions relate to the mid-west. As the Minister of State is aware, the proposals on the M20 are now for an N-M20. This is a major concern because, way back when I was in college – God knows that was long enough ago – Ed Walsh spoke about the Atlantic corridor, right beside it, as a balance against Dublin. He called for proper regional development based on Limerick, Cork and Galway being linked together, one hour in travel in either direction from Limerick. We need a motorway to make that happen. An "N" road simply will not do it. The Minister of State might answer one simple question for me. Which is it going to be? Is it going to be a motorway, which is what has been promised for more than a decade at this point, including by the previous Government, or is it going to be a series of N roads, which would be a very different proposition? That is crucial, because people are travelling in both directions every day for work. It is a hell of a commute. I did it myself for a while. It is not easy. However, it is more important in terms of the bigger picture and creating a proper balance across the west coast to Dublin. That was the vision Ed Walsh had, which many of us share, and we need to see commitment and delivery in that regard.

That brings me to one of the key points about the national development plan. There are lots of good things in it, but we do not know which projects are going to be delivered. As the Acting Chairman, Senator McDowell, said a few weeks ago, it looks like a wish list. None of us knows what is going to be delivered. Some 18 months into the term of this Government, we are now waiting for a strategic rail review to tell us more. How long is that going to take?

I will give a practical example. There are good references to local rail development in Limerick. However, if we are serious about delivering rail in Limerick, we must make a double track between Limerick and Galway, which would mean there would be a spur to Shannon and that we could have regular services in both directions. That is a big undertaking and investment. The worst outcome would be some kind of half-hearted one whereby we would continue with a single track rail between Limerick and Galway and then an occasional train, perhaps on a spur, ten years or so later to Shannon. That will not work. Shannon Airport needs a direct link with a regular service. That is the level of detail that we are looking for that we do not currently have. At least the N-M20 is mentioned. The northern distributor road, which is a central piece of architecture for Limerick city, has been dropped from the plan.That does not make any sense. We have massive problems in Limerick at two ends of the city. We have people backing off onto the motorway each way at the Mackey roundabout because they cannot get onto the roundabout. It is not just private cars. The future of cross-city public transport would be greatly enhanced by a northern distributor road but it has been dropped from the plan. I noted a line in the Minister's speech when he said it is important to note that the NDP is not an exhaustive list of projects to be undertaken over the next ten years. That is okay, but surely it is significant whether something is mentioned or not. If it is not significant then it really is just an empty list. To me, it is deeply significant and deeply worrying that the northern distributor road, which is a key piece of architecture we have been waiting for decades, is not even mentioned. It looks like a case of Limerick being forgotten, again. I must also mention the lack of a decent strategy on national aviation policy, which is going to be key, particularly in regard to Shannon Airport. The existing national aviation policy is six years old and is not fit for purpose, particularly after all we have been through and this also has not been dealt with in this national development plan. Again, it could be said that it has not been mentioned but we are going to deal with it, in which case, what is the value of the document? We need much more detail.

The other thing that really worries me is the lack of timelines. We have a wish list of projects but we do not know when they are going to happen or how long they will take. It does not look like the detailed policy document we need. I can accept that the Minister will provide more detail but we need to know when. We need to know when that strategic rail review is going to be completed. We need to know the detail of the projects. I mentioned before about the Ballybrophy line in Limerick. This is a simple win for the Minister. This is a line that is almost completed. It has 8.5 miles of track that need to be upgraded to complete it. At the moment it is scheduled to take another four years to do so. If the funding was rolled up to get it done next year we could start increasing the speed on that service and adding additional services. That is an easy win for commuters across Limerick and Tipperary. I urge the Minister to consider that. That would be a concrete project that we could see results from.

Cycling infrastructure in Limerick is absolutely appalling. As anyone who has cycled through Limerick will know, there is a cycle network, developed on a piecemeal basis, and lanes suddenly end in the middle of nowhere. On Parnell Street, there are loading bays to the left of the cycle lane, so that trucks and cars constantly come in and out while people try to cycle. What we have lacked for years is an integrated network. Is that going to happen? What we lack at the moment are details and timelines, and I hope to see those very quickly because otherwise it is going to be a wish list and we will end up disappointing people. The problem with an NDP like this is, there are many good things in it but there is a lack of detail on when it will be delivered. In particularly I would like an answer in regard to that Galway-Limerick train track. It is essential that becomes a double track, that we get a spur into Shannon to support Shannon Airport and we start building commuter services between Galway and Limerick. Let me emphasise, we need a motorway in Cork and I would like clarity in regard to that. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.