Vol. 454 No. 7
4 Mr. S. Brennan asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he will confirm the long standing decision to extend the DART to Greystones, County Wicklow; and the significance, if any, of the fact that the board of CIE did not specifically sanction the project. [11464/95]
The extension of the DART from Bray to Greystones is a key component of the Dublin Transportation Initiative and was included among the list of priority public transport projects for implementation by CIE under the National Development Plan and the Operational Programme for Transport covering the period 1994-99. These projects include the Dublin light rail system, upgrading and extending the DART and other suburban rail services, integrated ticketing arrangements for public transport and the development of quality bus services.
I should stress that CIE was a major participant in the DTI study which produced the total transport strategy for Dublin. CIE played a particularly prominent role in helping to devise the public transport element I have just outlined, including the DART extensions. The board of CIE was kept fully informed by management of all these developments and, for example, received and noted a major presentation in May 1994 from CIE management on the DTI proposals including the DART extensions. The subsequent detailed analysis of the Greystones project was done by CIE and approved by my Department.
The CIE board at its meeting on 7 June 1995 discussed my announcement of the extension of the DART to Greystones and unanimously endorsed the project.
Is the Minister confirming that, after his announcement, the CIE board discussed and approved it? Is that what he is saying?
We need to get this matter straight. Obviously the Deputy is coming from some particular angle and seems to be playing two games. On the one hand the Fianna Fáil candidate in the constituency of Wicklow, Senator Dick Roche, is claiming credit for the delivery of the DART extension to Greystones while, on the other hand, his party spokesman, Deputy Séamus Brennan, is publicly questioning the desirability of the project.
I am not doing that.
Let me make it quite clear. The management of CIE was at the frontline and an essential element of the overall Dublin Transportation Initiative process, having been involved in the continuous discussions, negotiations and cost/benefit analysis conducted.
In direct response to the Deputy's question I might cite paragraph 7 of a letter dated 19 June 1995 from the CIE group chief executive addressed to the Secretary of my Department which reads as follows:
The CIE Board, at its meeting on 7 June, 1995, discussed the Minister's announcement of the extension of the DART to Greystones and unanimously endorsed the project.
After the Minister's announcement.
Deputy Brennan asked me to respond and I have just done so.
So the Minister made his announcement and the board of CIE unanimously endorsed it. The reason I raise this query is that Fianna Fáil does support the extension of the DART to Greystones, for which I was involved in negotiating funds many years ago. My query is whether that commitment can be relied on. I was genuinely concerned when I understood the announcement had been made within the ambience of a by-election campaign, leading to the type of headline in this paper I am holding up about election promises.
Please, Deputy, let us have no display.
I was concerned about its being reannounced in that atmosphere. Will the Minister say precisely where the relevant funding will emanate from for this extension, when the contracts will be signed for its commencement but, more specifically, the source of its funding? I do not see any figure earmarked in the Estimates for the calendar year 1995. Perhaps it has been included in the Structural Funds but neither can I identify any figure earmarked for this project within those funds.
I can give the House a categoric assurance that this project will go ahead.
When?
It is included in the National Development Plan and the Operational Programme for Transport 1994-99. It was not announced in the atmosphere of a by-election campaign. Long before the by-election was called, indeed in the presence of the late Deputy Johnny Fox, I gave a commitment to this project on receiving a deputation from the Greystones area. In other words, I did what successive Fianna Fáil Ministers, including Deputy Séamus Brennan, failed to do. I took a decision and delivered. I know that Deputy Brennan was incapable of taking decisions in his ministerial capacity. The reality is that his party colleagues in that constituency, including the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Joe Jacob, have complimented me on my decisive action. The project will go ahead. It is included in the Operational Programme for Transport 1994-99 and most of the funding is in place. The total expenditure involved will be £8.5 million of which the vast proportion will come from the European Union Cohesion Fund and the balance, £1.3 million, from the internal resources of the CIE group who have taken account of the project in their planning.
I have no problem with the Minister's decisiveness but I want to pursue him on seeing the results on the ground. Can he inform the House when the contracts will be signed, having told us that the funds will come from the Operational Programme for Transport and £1.3 million from CIE's own resources? Will it be in the course of this year, 1996 or 1997?
I can confirm that the £8.5 million is comprised of power supply of £5.2 million, signalling works of £2.6 million, civil works of £0.6 million and works on the Redford station of £100,000. There will be no Exchequer funding involved.
So CIE will have to borrow.
Eight-five per cent of the funding is expected to come from the EU Cohesion Fund and no operational subsidy will be required on the basis of CIE's own projections. Extra rolling stock will be incorporated separately into the DART system under the Operational Programme for Transport already referred to, leaving sufficient capacity within the system to enable services of the expected frequency to be operated. With regard to the timescale, I should say that engineering, design and commissioning work has already commenced. Work will be tendered out. Construction is expected to begin early in 1996 and will take approximately 20 months to complete.
