Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Dec 1999

Vol. 512 No. 3

Priority Questions. - Public Transport.

Ivan Yates

Question:

33 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the individual projects anticipated to be constructed under the national development plan for transport infrastructure out of the £500 million contingency fund; the costings if any, carried out to date in relation to these proposals, individually and collectively; and if she has satisfied herself that adequate finance has been made available under the plan to ensure that the Luas tunnel, the Navan rail link to Dublin city and the airport and Swords rail link to the city centre can be constructed or will be constructed. [25944/99]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

The contingency provision of £500 million in the national development plan is in respect of the longer term development of the suburban rail network and the underground section of Luas. Among the options for the future development of the suburban rail network being evaluated by Ove Arup from a feasibility and cost perspective as part of the strategic rail study are a new inland rail link to Navan. Also included is the separation of long distance and commuter rail traffic through the construction of bypass rail lines, including a new rail link from the Belfast line through Swords and Dublin Airport to the western lines and a new rail link east of the loop line in Dublin city centre. Other options are the quadrupling of existing double lines where feasible and the provision of enhancement of rail services to the development centres identified by the strategic planning guidelines. Phase one centres include Drogheda, Naas/Newbridge/Kilcullen, Wicklow and Navan, and phase two centres include Athy, Arklow, Kildare and Monasterevin. Another option is more sophisticated signalling technology to increase track capacity.

The strategic rail study will be completed during January. Only then will it be clear what specific projects are being proposed for implementation as part of the longer term suburban rail development programme. Not all the options will necessarily be recommended and some may be mutually exclusive. The £500 million contingency is a significant sum of money. However, I assure the Deputy that, if further resources are required at a later stage, they will be provided. My priority now is to spend the contingency fund which has been set aside and to spend it well.

Regarding Luas, geotechnical studies of the proposed underground section in the city centre are taking place and the results of those will be available by the end of the year. It should be borne in mind that all the projects just mentioned are medium to long-term projects and that the national development plan provides for funding up to 2006.

Mr. Yates

Will the Minister come clean and admit that this component of the national development plan, which puts together under the contingency fund a number of projects, including the Luas tunnel, the Navan rail link and the airport rail link, cannot be constructed for £500 million? Will she also confirm that, in the national development plan £300 million of the £500 million will come from public-private partnership funds and, therefore, the Exchequer is only committing £200 million? Will she come clean with commuters and say there is no realistic provision for these projects and, therefore, they are not included in the plan in any meaningful sense?

Mrs. O'Rourke

I am sorry to tell the Deputy that I am a very clean person and that there is nothing on which to come clean. All the things he said are incorrect. My answer is comprehensive and lays out matters. I repeat that, if more money is needed, it will be provided.

Mr. Yates

If the Minister maintains it is possible to fund those projects, given that her Luas provision was £400 million plus, what is her best estimate of the cost of the Luas tunnel, the Navan rail link and the airport/Swords rail link?

Mrs. O'Rourke

I have no intention of making daft estimates, something the Deputy does. I will have the results of the geotechnical studies at the end of the year. Ove Arup will also report at the end of the year. All the studies will then be evaluated. If I need more money, I will get it.

Mr. Yates

I put it to the Minister that her bluff and waffle are not good enough. People are entitled to know between now and 2006 whether these projects are real. Will the Minister admit that, in the context of the plan, there is no timetable, no value for money audit nor any meaningful provision, so that the expectations raised for these three projects cannot be realised unless additional money is provided?

Mrs. O'Rourke

If additional money is needed, it will be provided. I have said it three times and I will say it again. I do not intend to anticipate what the geotechnical or Ove Arup studies will cost. They will be provided to me. Is it not strange that, when Deputy John Bruton was Taoiseach in the previous Government, he did not think of constructing a rail link to Navan?

Mr. Yates

I put it to the Minister that the public private partnership division of her Department does not as of yet have any track record regarding what is necessary to bring about successful PPPs. Does she agree that what is required is a new directorate to ensure that a commercial dynamic exists in terms of design, building and operation of PPPs? How does she intend to proceed with the public private partnership project element of this?

Mrs. O'Rourke

The Department has a unit dedicated to public private partnership. It employs expert people and it will buy in expertise if it is needed. We intend to proceed with public private partnerships. If more money is needed, I am assured we will receive it. I intend to examine the studies when I receive them at the end of the year and progress them. Far from waffling, that is very clear. It is the Deputy who is the waffler.