Vol. 405 No. 1
11 Mr. Ryan asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if he has received a response or proposals from the board of CIE regarding the £18 million for new railcars which he recently sanctioned; and if he will outline his response to same.
I have not yet received detailed proposals from Iarnród Éireann for the acquisition of the new railcars for which I recently sanctioned expenditure of £18 million. I understand that Iarnród Éireann are currently examining a number of options for the acquisition of the new railcars and that proposals will be made to me in due course.
Will the Minister agree that his allocation, and proposed programme, are totally inadequate given that some of the carriages in use are up to 35 years old? Will he comment on the fact that CIE in 1988 requested sanction from his Department for the construction of 48 carriages, not 18, at Inchicore?
I confirm that in October 1988 CIE proposed to acquire 46 railcars at a cost of just under £40 million. When I took over the Department I assessed that application and considered that a sum of about £18 million for a smaller number of railcars would meet the requirement. We must remember that for many years previously there was no allocation.
The problem relates to the present allocation. Will the Minister agree that piecemeal funding for small quantities of rolling stock in isolation, when more are required, is making it uneconomic for the board of CIE to have the new railcars constructed by Irish people in an Irish industry at Inchicore?
I ask the Minister to give a directive to CIE to have the new railcars built at Inchicore with a follow-up programme. He should ensure that they are built by Irish people and not by English or European workers at the expense of Irish people. This is a very serious matter.
The Deputy's question is overlong.
The chairman of CIE has informed me that the company are assessing whether to construct the new railcars here or acquire them elsewhere. As soon as I have that assessment I will be in a position to respond to the Deputy.
I am calling Deputy Byrne.
Will the Minister give a directive to CIE to have the railcars built here?
Would the Minister agree that we are a laughing stock of a nation when one considers we have on loan, courtesy of Northern Ireland railways, carriages which we use on the Greystones/Dublin line and other lines? Quite rightly, they are demanding the return of their carriages. This is an absolute disgrace. The Minister should get up off his departmental butt and give Iarnród Éireann sufficient funding to enable them to make the railways an attractive means of transport for commuters.
I have just made a decision to give £18 million for that purpose, the first time a decision of this kind has been made in many years.
Question No. 12.
May I——
It has to be a very brief question, Deputy. The Deputy has had a good innings on this question.
I appeal to the Minister to give a commitment to Iarnróid Éireann so that they can have these railcars constructed in Inchicore.
The Deputy has already made that point rather effectively.
If such a commitment is not given it will not be possible for them——
I am going to another question. The Deputy is ignoring the Chair.
A Cheann Comhairle——
Please obey the Chair sometimes. Question No. 12.
The Minister was going to reply.
When the Chair calls the next question he will be obeyed by both sides of the House.
