Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 68: To ask the Minister for Transport his views on the recent reported delays in the provision of Transport 21 projects and the potential to fast-track other projects in Transport 21 as a result of those delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24355/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Transport if the full Transport 21 programme is expected to be implemented on time and within budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24464/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 106 together.

Transport 21 is, essentially, a financial framework representing the funding that the Government has indicated it is prepared to commit for capital investment in transport for the ten-year period 2006-2015. At the launch of Transport 21, the Government identified the projects in the national roads, public transport and regional airports sectors that it wishes to see prioritised for development in the ten-year period and estimated the cost of implementing these projects at €34 billion, in current cost terms. An indicative timetable for completion of the major projects was also provided at that time.

The original timetable was designed to set challenging targets for the agencies and was drawn-up at a time when many of the projects mentioned were only at design/planning stage. Inevitably, within a programme of this scale, it will be necessary to amend estimated completion dates as projects develop. Final completion dates for projects will only be determined when the planning process and contract negotiations have been concluded. So far, it has been necessary to revise the indicative completion dates for some projects because of circumstances arising before construction, while other projects have been delivered ahead of schedule.

My Department is closely monitoring and very actively managing the Transport 21 programme to ensure that projects are delivered in the shortest possible timescale, consistent with the annual funding available. In overall terms, there is no evidence to suggest that all of the projects identified in Transport 21 will not be completed by 2015, within the overall budget of €34 billion.