Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Buttimer for his kind words on my precarious position. I believe what will happen if a new Taoiseach is appointed, and presumably he or she will be, is that I will cease to be a Minister of State at that point.

I will start by addressing the points made by Senator Kyne. He mentioned the public spending code. There has to be a balance between the number of stages that it takes to get project approval and the amount of time that is required. There are three decision gates. Initially, to carry out a big capital project you need preliminary approval, which is the State saying that, in principle, it would like to do the project. Then you have to design the project and the design has to be signed off on. Eventually, it has to be put out for tender and you do not know how much the project will cost until, quite far down the tracks, the construction company comes back to you and says how much it will build your infrastructure for. At that point, the final amount of money has to be signed off on. Those are the three decision gates. In general, there is a view that although the public spending code was recently reviewed, it needs to be looked at again.Time is not free and saying that there is need to go off and do repeated evaluations, has a cost. Sometimes there is a feeling that every time something is evaluated and subjected to more appraisals, the project risk is reduced. In fact, the time is adding up as well and eventually it comes to the point where nothing at all has been delivered. That is the risk of having a public spending code that takes too long, and this is being reviewed.

Senator Gavan went into particular detail about the capital programme overall and the need for accelerated investment in housing. He referred to his own area of Castleconnell and the specific examples of people requiring housing. While our population is increasing rapidly, we are building, commencing and completing more houses than ever in the past decade. There is a constant need to do more, accelerate and to spend more and approximately €3.5 billion has been spent by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage this year so far; a multiple of what was spent in the past.

The Senator referred to the northern distributor road and his fear that it has been cancelled. I did not know that and honestly, I am not up to speed on roads projects. It is not something I have been focusing on but I am sure the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, or the Minister of State at the Department of Transport with special responsibility for international and road transport and logistics, Deputy Naughton, would be happy to answer questions on specific projects. I get many more representations on roads from Senators and Deputies than on public transport. Our programme for Government commits us to spending €2 on public transport capital investment for every €1 we spend on new roads. We are investing heavily in transport but most of it is going into public transport. According to the capital accounts for the year, €2.547 billion spent on transport projects for this year and there is a carryover of €137 million. Some 95% of the budget was spent but the balance means that most of it is going on public transport rather than on new roads. People benefit from that and they want a regular frequent public transport service to their area. There is heavy investment going into rail both in Limerick and Cork.

Regarding the connections between Limerick and Cork, the road needs to be improved. Safety needs to be improved as well as the speed at which motorists can travel between the two cities. That is absolutely critical. Again, the M20 project is not something I am up to speed on nor would I offer comment on it but I want it to become a safer route to travel, whatever means of transport is used to get between the two cities. The old model was that a motorway was being planned, there were landowners along the way, and people would lobby to have a junction in their area. If people get a junction in their area, the land in the area could become valuable as it could be used for housing and then long-distance commuting communities could be enabled to come in and out of the city. Clearly, that has a very destructive effect on our national planning framework if we are designing our transport strategy to facilitate extended sprawl into areas and creating a situation where people are condemned to long-distance commuting as a way to afford a home.

Senator Davitt mentioned the tragic events in Lebanon, which are shocking to everybody and a reminder that so many Irish people have taken part in peacekeeping missions at great risk to themselves. That a convoy of Irish soldiers was being shot at and one of those soldiers tragically died and others were injured and taken to hospital is shocking. Their families must be terrified, just coming up to Christmas, that this happened to them. This happened while they were working for the common good and to keep the peace while putting themselves at risk. Our overseas forces are heroes and we should think of them at this time.

Senator Buttimer again mentioned the M20, which as I said, I am not up to speed on but I am sure the Department of Transport will be happy to update him on this. He also mentioned the work of councillors. I was a councillor for six years and it is difficult to balance the requirements of having another job, or another source of income, while at the same time serving the public with no staff whatsoever. It is a difficult and thankless job but one that is well respected by the public.