John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the Dublin-based transport infrastructure projects he has submitted for consideration with regard to the mid-term capital review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21959/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Deputy Curran is aware that a mid-term review of the Capital Plan has been initiated by Government to look at where capital investment priorities lie over the remaining 4 years of the current plan in the context of a growing economy. I, along with Ministerial colleagues, am engaged in making our cases to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for increased funding for a variety of important capital investments. Transport has already been identified as a top priority in this review. I intend to ensure we secure a significantly increased level of investment over the remaining 4 years of the plan which will help to address growing congestion and bottlenecks across out transport network. This is vital for Dublin but also for the rest of the country.

The existing capital plan already provides funding to advance a number of key public transport projects in Dublin such as Luas Cross City, Metro North, the Dart Expansion programme and Dart Underground. One of the most effective approaches to tackle congestion over the short to medium term is to radically improve the bus system to deliver a step change in performance across the GDA region and in our regional cities. This can be complemented with a network of park and ride sites and investment to increase capacity across public transport and to improve the infrastructure for sustainable transport options.​ All of these projects form part of the solution. I will be putting forward a robust case for them over the coming months.

I understand all Departmental submissions will be published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in due course. For the moment, these submissions are part of a deliberative process which will be completed over the Summer with final decisions to be taken by Government as part of the 2018 Estimate. At this point, I am not in a position to provide any more specific details on the proposals and priorities contained in my Department's submission. Once these are published, however, I will of course be more than happy to discuss them.