Vol. 490 No. 7
103 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if she will allocate additional funding for the Rosslare to Dublin rail line, in view of growing complaints from commuters in County Wicklow at the poor level of service, the growing need for new stations along the line to reduce the level of car traffic between counties Wicklow and Dublin and the potential availability of the £114 million of EU funding designated for the Luas project. [11268/98]
My primary concern has always been to ensure that Ireland did not lose the EU funding originally allocated to the Luas project.
The Community Support Framework monitoring committee is the body with responsibility for making decisions on the reallocation of Structural Fund assistance decommitted from the light rail project. I understand that the committee will consider the matter at its June meeting.
In the meantime, I will be working hard to ensure that a reasonable proportion of the decommitted EU assistance will be used to address public transport requirements. My Department has also been working for some time with CIE to identify appropriate projects in respect of which contractual commitments could be entered into by end 1999 and work could be completed by 2001. My officials will now be entering into urgent consultations with the Commission on this issue.
