The national development plan set out a major programme of investment in public transport, amounting to over €2.8 billion in 1999 prices.
This programme comprised projects related to upgrading and renewing rail tracks and signalling, additional rail and bus capacity, the provision of quality bus corridors and new rail and bus stations.
To date, over €810 billion has been spent under the programme which is being delivered in the main by CIE, the Railway Procurement Agency and Dublin Transportation Office. The awarding of tenders under the programme is a matter for each of the bodies concerned. In order to assess progress on the public transport programme, Indecon International was retained to carry out an evaluation. In August 2002, Indecon published a report on the financial and physical progress to date under the public transport programme, entitled "Evaluation of Public Transport Priority".