Written answers
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
Departmental Policy Reviews
Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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456. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the policy reviews to be undertaken by his Department in 2014; the expected reviews for 2015; the cost of these; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30040/14]
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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A review of tourism policy commenced in August 2013 and will be finalised later this year. The review is being fully undertaken within my Department with no outside consultants involved. Accordingly, any costs associated with the Tourism Policy Review will not be significant and will only relate to incidental expenses such as printing.
The draft of a new national aviation policy was published in early May and stakeholders have been invited to submit comments on the draft by the end of July. Following review of the submissions received, the Minister intends to finalise and adopt the national aviation policy before the end of 2014.
My Department also intends to undertake the policy reviews listed in the table below in 2014 and 2015.
| Value for Money and Policy Reviews | Work will commence before the end of 2014 on VFM Reviews relating to Traffic Management Grants in Regional Cities and the Sports Capital Programme. As all of these reviews will be carried out within the Department, there are no planned costs other than the allowed expenditure on independent chairs for each review, which are set by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. |
|---|---|
| National Cycle Policy Framework | Work has begun on the review of the National Cycle Policy Framework and completed actions have been identified. A stakeholder consultation will be held later in the year. There will be no associated external costs |
| Strategic Framework for Investment in Land Transport | During 2013 and 2014 my Department has also undertaken a wide-ranging review of land transport capital investment, with a view to developing a Strategic Framework for Investment in Land Transport. This work has involved research and review of areas including recent trends in transport demand, assessing the return on capital investment in transport, benchmarking against international investment levels, and developing a comprehensive understanding of necessary expenditure to maintain our existing land transport network. An expert Steering Group, informed by this evidence base, has completed their report, which will shortly issue for public consultation along with associated environmental reports key to the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the Framework. This work was predominantly carried out within my Department. There was some expenditure on consultancy services relating to the development of the Framework and Steering Group meeting related expenses which together are expected to total less than €45,000. In addition, consultancy services, meeting and required consultation related expenses in respect of the development of the SEA of the Framework are expected to amount to less than €50,000. |
| Safety Policy and Culture | The Irish Maritime Administration of the Department is undertaking a review of safety policy and culture in respect of all marine sectors including the fishing industry, passenger/ cargo vessels and leisure/recreational craft users. The objective is to produce a Maritime Safety Strategy by end 2014 which will target actions aimed at achieving zero fatalities and reducing the level of incidents occurring in the maritime sector. The process, which includes a large element of public consultation and engagement with stakeholders, is estimated to cost of the order of €30,000. |
| National Intelligent Transport Systems Strategy | This review is planned for completion in Q1 2015. Information on cost will be available once work currently underway to select specialist advisors to help develop the Strategy is completed. |
| The Road Safety Authority’s Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020 | The Road Safety Authority’s Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020 includes a commitment to "Review policy on licensing of road transport operators to assess if own account operators should be included." The Secretary General of my Department is responsible for the delivery of this commitment. Details of the review have yet to be fully finalised and the matter of cost will be determined when that is done. |
It is also intended to commence a review of the economic regulation of airports later this year. There are no estimates of the costs involved at this time.
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