asked the Minister for the Environment the changes needed on roads to cater for the change from 32 tons to 38 tonnes in the gross vehicle weight permitted in haulage.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Roads Usage Charge.
9.
In 1983, regulations were made increasing the maximum gross vehicle weight of heavy goods vehicles from 32 imperial tons to 38 metric tonnes. The regulations provided for more detailed controls on axle spacings and axle weights. The aim of these controls is to secure the distribution of heavy loads in such a way as to minimise damage to road pavements and bridges.
I am advised that because an extra axle gives better load distribution a 38 tonne truck causes roughly the same damage as a 32 ton truck. However, the 38 tonne truck permitted by the 1983 regulations allows a given weight of road freight haulage to be carried on a smaller number of vehicles. In this way the overall level of road damage by road haulage operations should be reduced.
The 38 tonne limit is more in line with limits in other EC countries and enables Irish hauliers to compete more effectively in the home and international markets.
In view of the larger vehicles on our roads now and the consequent need for greater investment in the road programme, can the Minister say why the Government decided this year to reduce the estimate by £10 million in respect of the national roads construction programme as outlined in the Government plan?
I find this hard to take from the other side of the House. Fianna Fáil in their document, The Way Forward, outlined a magnificent road programme but in the following year cut that programme to bits. In the three years of our plan we are making available an amount in the order of £500 million for road development and road infrastructure improvements.
That represents the biggest investment ever in the history of the State for this purpose.
It represents a magnificent injection of much needed investment in our roads, an area that was neglected for far too long by the people opposite when in Government. Their grandiose proposals as outlined in The Way Forward were short-lived.
It is not in order to debate The Way Forward.
That document did not have a lifetime of even one year. I assure the House that our road programme is going ahead, that the moneys allocated are being spent and spent well, that the contracts are going ahead and that we are getting good value for miles per £ spent. Recently the Deputy attended the opening of a road in his constituency.
That was a development that I approved as Minister so the Minister's officials should have been there, too.
That is the sort of progress that we intend making throughout the country. The question relates to trucks but if I had been aware that the Deputy was so concerned about the road programme, I would have had available to me some more background knowledge by way of attempting to educate him further. However, he knows that the road programme is progressing well and the motorist knows that, too.
This dreary grey book, Building on Reality, contains the specific projection that in 1986 £140 million would be invested in the roads programme. The actual estimate is for a figure of £130 million. In view of the crisis in the building industry and of the decrease in cement sales, is this not one area in which the Government should have concentrated funds this year? Instead, they have reduced their predicted figure by £10 million, though there was scope for an increase. Having regard to the additional loads on the roads, would the Minister not agree that this was the wrong year to reduce capital spending on road construction? Perhaps the Minister of State was not aware of the £10 million reduction.
We cannot have an argument at Question Time.
That document which the Deputy refers to as our dreary grey book is yielding rewards, especially with inflation reducing possibly to 2 per cent this year.
There is not much point in asking questions when we are not given answers.
That low figure compares with a figure of 22 per cent when The Way Forward was published.
Why is the amount of the estimate reduced?
If the Deputy wished to table a question relating to any road with which he is concerned, and which comes within the road proposals, I shall be happy to reply.