Pa Daly
Question:92. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if he will report on regional and local roads investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9452/25]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Road Network
Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Déanaim comhghairdeas leat as do phost nua.
Go raibh maith agat.
I wanted to ask the Minister about regional and local roads investment, in particular, the local improvement schemes, and if he will make a statement in relation to it.
Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle as ucht a phoist nua. Congratulations on your new post, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I thank the Deputy for his question as I know that this is a matter of interest to him and to many Deputies within the House. I certainly know that by the number of queries that I have received over the past week or so. The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, as the Deputy will be aware, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads funded from councils' own resources are supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority. They send their submissions up to the Department.
As outlined in the 2025 regional and local roads grant programme, which I announced on 14 February this year, the Government is strongly committed to protecting the existing regional and local road network. This network is fundamental in maintaining social and economic connectivity, linking people and places across the country. Ireland's regional and local road network spans 96,000 km. The network requires significant funding to ensure it remains fit for purpose, safe and resilient. As such, €713 million has been allocated to regional and local road grants in 2025, with approximately 90% of this funding being directed towards maintenance and renewal works. This represents an overall increase of 8% in funding, year on year. This funding will support local authorities in carrying out an extensive 2025 programme of maintenance and restoration works. Funding also supports various safety improvement works, bridge rehabilitation schemes, drainage works, climate adaptation measures, community involvement projects and the maintenance of former national roads.
I thank the Minister for the reply. There are roads the length and breadth of the country that are in a serious state of disrepair. There is no city, town or village that is not impacted. Due to years of neglect by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments, road users in every corner of the State feel abandoned.
It is especially true in rural Ireland where it must be remembered that 70% of road collisions occur. Instead of getting to grips with this situation, what we have heard recently is kite flying, whether it is in the implementation of the new speed limits without any ability to enforce them or announcing new road investments that are not really that new at all. The only new part of that €713 million investment recently announced is money that the Department failed to spend last year to the tune of €115 million. The story was the same in 2023 and 2022 when there was a capital carry-over of €140 million and €160 million, respectively. It is all well and good grandstanding about increased investment but there must be a plan to deal with it because it is not just money that is needed. We need a plan and a roadmap for delivery. Take my constituency of Kerry, where the LIS list has 625 roads on the priority list. As the council gets to about 20 roads per year, it would take about 30 years to complete that. What measures is the Minister taking to ensure the Department does not have a capital carry-over? What measures is the Department taking to speed up road maintenance under the LIS scheme?
Tá am breise ag an Teachta anocht. There is no kite flying on this. This is real money for roads across the country. We announced them and people will see the network of roads. As part of this investment in 2025, just under €48 million is being invested in developing and upgrading this infrastructure through vital strategic projects. The Deputy will be familiar with some of them. These include projects identified for development under the national development plan such as the Tralee northern relief road – I do not think that is a kite anyone is flying - and the Shannon crossing, the Killaloe bypass and the R494 upgrade. Furthermore, €22.2 million is also being provided for smaller-scale road improvements under the specific grant category.
I could go through the list of all the roads but I have published it. It includes €330 million for road pavement strengthening and €75 million for preventative surface stressing. Our budget will be expended this year. I can assure the Deputy of that. We have a very strong pipeline of works under way. In the coming weeks I will announce the national works programme too. It will see significant investment. I am glad to see some significant projects with which the Deputy will be familiar, such as the Adare bypass which has started. Again, that is not a kite; it is happening. We will continue to invest in our roads because I accept there are deficits in areas and we want to try to address them.
There seems to be significant discrepancies between different county councils when it comes to road maintenance and repair. Some move at a much faster pace. What is the Minister going to do about that? If local authorities are expected to be responsible for the upkeep of our local and regional roads, they need resources. The Minister mentioned the Adare bypass. There is a strong suspicion. Local engineers spent an awful long time preparing documents for tender to improve the Ring of Kerry road near Glenbeigh school and the N86 from Lispole to Dingle but then, suddenly, the funding was cut despite all the efforts that were made. While the Adare bypass is necessary, there is a feeling that is where the money went to. Will he commit to restoring the funding on the roads where the tendering documents were prepared at the expense of a lot of cost and time by local engineers?
Finally, the Minister has committed to solving the problems with local authorities and their funding but it has gone on too long. Collisions used to be mapped. There was a cost-benefit analysis and a response but this information seems to have been cut. It does not seem to be happening any more.
All of us want to see further improvements in the road network and in particular when we look at regional and local roads. I do not think anyone can dispute the investment for 2025 is very significant. Will it do every regional and local road across the country? Of course it will not. You must have a works programme as well and the capacity to deliver those programmes. That is what I and the Ministers of State, Deputies Canney and Buttimer, in this Government will be focused on.
It is for the local authorities to bring the schemes forward and to make submissions to ourselves and through the roads authorities as well. It is from that decisions are made in relation to the delivery of the funding for those schemes. We are focused on delivery. People will see significant improvements over the term of this Government. In any annual works programme there is no question that every road within it will be addressed but we will have a significant announcement very shortly in relation to the national roads programme. The Deputy will look at it, and rightly so, but these are projects we want to advance further.
Road Projects
Ciarán Ahern
Question:93. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport the way he will ensure that the pipeline of road transport projects he plans to fund in 2025 are individually and cumulatively assessed for their impact on the transport sectoral emissions ceiling set under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9528/25]
What will the Minister do to ensure the pipeline of road transport projects he intends to fund in 2025 are individually and cumulatively assessed for their impact on the transport sectoral emissions ceiling set under the climate Act 2021?
I thank the Deputy for this important question on transport sectoral emissions. My Department's national investment framework for transport in Ireland, NIFTI, sets out modal and intervention hierarchies to achieve transport objectives. One of the four priorities is decarbonisation and as such, the sponsoring agency of any road project must consider any potential positive or negative impacts of a given project in relation to decarbonisation. The sponsor must also demonstrate that a given option is the most environmentally sustainable and cost-effective solution for the issue at hand.
As part of our NIFTI framework we have also developed and published the transport appraisal framework, TAF, which sets out the detailed framework for how all transport projects must be assessed. Under the TAF, climate change impacts are one of the seven appraisal criteria for intervention. As part of the development of a project's business case, each individual project is also assessed for strategic policy alignment under which the project's alignment with climate policy, including the relevant climate action plan, is considered. All of this assessment is published as part of the publication of the business case.
In developing the sectoral emissions ceilings as part of the Government's climate action plan, the impact of the NDP's planned investment in the roads programme was considered in the modelling scenarios undertaken. A refresh of those modelling scenarios is under way again this year as part of the development of climate action plan 2026 and will again include analysis of the roads programme.
The Deputy will no doubt acknowledge that investment in our roads programme promotes regional accessibility, facilities economic competitiveness, supports a town centres first approach and improves road safety. Our ongoing efforts to decarbonise the vehicles using the roads network is an important focus over the short to medium term. Significant investment is under way to accelerate the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure across the network.
It is really important that they are cumulatively assessed and not just on an individual basis. The Government has inherited an overshoot in the transport emissions budget as well as our broader carbon budgets. Due to the climate imperative, the previous Government had a spending ratio of 2:1 for public transport versus roads and invested €1 million a day in active travel infrastructure. Can the Minister commit to sticking to that? If the Government is off course in relation to emissions targets, the Minister is obliged to provide and propose corrective actions. What actions might the Minister take to implement the recommendations of the IFAC and Climate Change Advisory Council today in their joint report? Will he refresh the concept of EV grants, for example and reduce the cost of say, 700,000 new electric vehicles on our roads?
There is a balance to be struck here. I am glad the Deputy mentioned the CCAC and IFAC contribution today which I very much welcome. It does show the challenge in a growing economy. Thankfully we have full employment. Deputy Pa Daly already mentioned his view that there are infrastructural deficits and there are as well. We need to build more roads and we need more investment in rail. We will do that with the refresh of the NDP but the climate action plan is central to all of that. In the past two years we have seen a reduction in emissions of about 6.6% last year even while the economy was growing. That is a really important tipping point. The targets are exacting by 2030.
On EVs and EV grants, I will look specifically at them and review them to see if they can be improved. I think they can but we have only commenced that work. Charging infrastructure is really important. I will be making announcements in the coming weeks to roll out additional charging infrastructure. I might return to the active travel question the Deputy raised in another supplementary.
It is encouraging to hear that. To the extent the Minister might be considering refreshing the EV grants, I hope it will be purely for EVs rather than hybrids. The transport sector is wildly off course. We feel there is a need for accelerated and urgent demand management measures and the implementation of ambitious active travel and public transport measures that can bridge the emissions gap by 2030. The Minister said we have reduced emissions, but we are required to reduce them by 20% over the period 2021 to 2025 and by 50% from 2025 to 2030. We would query how the building of additional roads rather than opting for more sustainable measures such as rail and light rail infrastructure is going to help us reach those targets.
The Deputy mentioned a number of things. On active travel, earlier this year he will have seen the NTA announcements, with very significant funding. Tomorrow, I will announce additional funding for greenways, improving the permeability between towns and villages. This is a successful programme and we want to expand it, and that is embraced by communities too.
In respect of EVs, I am not just going to review the grants; I intend to improve them. We have not concluded the work on that. The Deputy will have seen that in the past two weeks, we have announced the EV taxi grants, which have been fully subscribed, and we can continue to change our public fleet, including our buses and bus network, across the board. We have also announced the first electric motorbike grant, in which, again, there has been a lot of interest. There is much we can do on the transport side while we are still building new roads, which we need to do too. We have just had a brief discussion on the Adare bypass, and anyone in that region around Limerick and the south west will understand the importance of that piece of road infrastructure as well.
Electric Vehicles
Pa Daly
Question:94. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport the steps he is taking to make electric vehicles more accessible to rural motorists. [9453/25]
The Government has ambitious targets when it comes to electric vehicles. Approximately 195,000 are supposed to be on the road by the end of 2025, growing to 845,000 by 2030. There is nothing wrong with that but with only 80,000 electric vehicles currently on the road, reaching these targets at the current rate of progress is a practical impossibility. If we do not meet the 2030 targets, the taxpayer could be footing a bill of up to €26 billion, according to the report today from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council.
I am aware of that. I am also aware the Deputy's party has opposed every action we have taken in respect of climate, whether through our climate budgets or the climate action plan. That is a policy position it has, but I think we all understand the need for us to reduce emissions to improve how people travel. The Deputy's question relates specifically to electric vehicles and making them more accessible to rural motorists, something with which I agree. Rural motorists are often in an advantageous position to switch to using an electric vehicle due to the large number of dwellings in rural Ireland that are suitable for EV charging. We have had issues, as the Deputy will know, in multi-unit developments with the provision of charging points, which needs to be looked at, but home charging means lower running costs and many EVs are now capable of reaching more than 400 km in a single charge, which will meet most people's daily driving needs. The public charging network has grown in recent years and the new programme for Government includes further significant expansion and modernisation of the EV charging network in order that drivers can use EVs with confidence and certainty.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is leading on the delivery of charging infrastructure along our motorways and national primary and secondary routes. We have launched three grant aid programmes for the delivery of significant, high-powered charging infrastructure on these roads. These are all for delivery in the next 12 months. Last week, I announced a third scheme that is focused on installing high-powered recharging stations along 3,000 km of national primary and secondary roads. This will ensure EV drivers have reliable access to charging points throughout the country.
Furthermore, of significant relevance to rural motorists is the regional and local EV network plan. I will publish the final version of this plan, following extensive consultation and engagement with local authorities, in the coming weeks. The plan describes how local authorities will facilitate the provision of local charging networks.
I thank the Minister. As he said, the question related to making electric vehicles more accessible for rural motorists. He mentioned the 400 km figure, but that confidence is not shared by people who are selling electric vehicles in Kerry, who are not confident that motorists will be able to drive all the way to Dublin, for example, in an electric vehicle. The EV schemes seem to remain the preserve of affluent, urban households. Progress will continue to stagnate, and this is another example in a long line of regressive measures pursued by the Government. Research has shown that EVs used in rural Ireland have a bigger climate impact in that they remove 35% more emissions compared with their urban counterparts, but it is less affordable for rural households to own and operate an EV. Many people in rural areas are locked into car ownership and even though there have been improvements in BusConnects and rural transport schemes, there is still a severe lack of public transport. Will the Minister consider more targeted measures aimed at supporting rural drivers to transition away from fossil fuels, and will he consider extending the grant to second-hand EVs, as recommended in the report published this morning?
As I was saying, the regional and local EV network plan is very important. Departmental officials have been engaging actively with local authorities to develop their own regional charging plans. We are now looking at ranges averaging 400 km, which will cover most daily driving. Most EV charging happens at home. Nevertheless, I agree that we need to improve the EV charging infrastructure throughout the country, and this strategy will focus in particular on our regional areas. I can also confirm that in line with the programme for Government, a new EV infrastructure strategy will be developed this year, covering 2026 onwards. A key consideration in that will be addressing the specific EV challenges of rural communities, which I acknowledge.
Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland, ZEVI, offers a generous suite of financial supports to drivers for the transition to electric vehicles, including a purchase grant for battery electric vehicles, a home charger purchase grant, vehicle registration tax, VRT, relief of up to €5,000 and a low rate of annual motor tax.
I am glad the Minister accepts that the works done to date are unacceptable and inadequate. The Government has slashed the EV grant and repeatedly failed to make it available for second-hand vehicles. Will the Minister consider re-establishing that or improving the grant for the purchase of second-hand vehicles? The Government wants just under 1 million electric vehicles to be on the road by 2030, or 30% of all registered vehicles, but that is unlikely to happen given the lack of progress to date. People are getting the raw end of the deal, as is borne out in the charging infrastructure.
The figures do not lie. Under EU legislation, Ireland is required to have 6,210 publicly available charging points but, as the Minister said, we are a way off this and that more needs to be done. Some rural counties are charging deserts, and without the appropriate infrastructure in place, it is easy to see why people will be reluctant transition away from petrol and diesel. What is the Government doing to ensure a regionally balanced roll-out of the charging infrastructure?
I have just told the Deputy what we are doing, and I did not say that what has happened up to now is unacceptable. I said we need to do more. Anyone will understand that when you are bringing in new infrastructure such as this, you are not going to do it in a year. That is obvious. You have a plan but you also have to know how to pay for it, and I have highlighted the contradiction in the stance of the Deputy's party in respect of investing in areas such as this. It opposed carbon tax. We want to increase grants-----
Carbon tax is unfair.
I will leave that as it is. People will make up their own minds about it.
Let us look at the facts. In 2020, the number of available charging points was about 1,700. It was 2,400 as of January 2024, and that will increase further this year, although I do not yet have those numbers. I am very serious about improving the infrastructure throughout the country. We will do that and we are concluding the consultation with the local authorities to identify where. We are serious about doing it and we will do it.
Public Transport
Pa Daly
Question:95. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if he will report on service level requirements for private operators on public transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9454/25]
What are the service level requirements for private operators on public transport and will the Minister make a statement on the matter? Commuters the length and breadth of the country are exasperated because of the shambolic service some of them have come to expect as normal. Week in, week out, we receive complaints about ghost buses, late buses and students who are trying to get home from the University of Limerick, for example, to Kerry, whereby the second bus does not turn up and they are very late coming home for the weekend. Everyone can agree it is not up to scratch.
This is not just a minor inconvenience. It is seriously affecting people's daily lives.
The vast majority of public service obligation bus services are provided by State operators through what are known as direct award contracts. Remaining routes are run by operators awarded a contract following a competitive tendering process. Sometimes those routes are operated by a State operator and sometimes they are operated by a private operator. This mix of contract award processes is in accordance with the relevant EU and Irish regulatory frameworks.
The performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators and performance reports are available to view on the NTA’s website. I reassure the Deputy that the NTA uses all the contractual and regulatory powers available to it to measure, report on and seek to maintain and improve standards across all PSO public transport services. Further, in instances where performance drops, such as those we saw recently on certain routes, financial penalties are rigorously applied unless the cause of the loss of performance is outside of the control of the operator.
I recently met NTA representatives specifically on this matter because not only do I want the NTA to focus on the bus operators but I want the bus operators to focus on customer service and certainty as best as possible so that people know that if a bus is scheduled, it will turn up. Everybody understands there may be the odd instance where that does not happen but on certain routes we have seen that with too great a frequency. The NTA is carrying out a specific review of those incidents over the past few weeks, at my request, and will report directly back to me. In the instances we are aware of, the issue was due to a shortage of mechanics and the knock-on impact that had on fleet availability. That led to the recent issues on the newly launched phase 6a of BusConnects. We do not want to see this happening. We want more people to use public transport and, thankfully, they do. There were 330 million journeys made on public transport last year, so the figure is increasing and people are responding. The bus network is now better but we need to ensure the service is there to back it up.
We all agree that if the service is there, more people will use it. The Minister mentioned performance reviews. I am sure he will agree that the service provided to date is not up to scratch. I ask him to confirm that is the case.
The Minister mentioned penalties. We have heard stories about the farcical situation where some bus drivers commence a route at stage eight or nine of the bus journey, rather than starting at the beginning. They drive straight through to stop eight or nine and complete the journey in order to avoid the inevitable fines that will accrue if the bus is late. It is unacceptable. To get a sense of the problem I reached out to some of my fellow TDs and received an avalanche of examples of services that were failing to deliver. It makes it all the more frustrating that the Government seems to be determined to continue with services that are failing to deliver. This was borne out by the recent chaos at Go-Ahead Ireland. In the response we received from the NTA, it agreed the service was inadequate and that Go-Ahead Ireland would be fined €5 million. It is not a new issue. Things are getting worse. Will the Minister outline why the contract has been renewed for a service that is so obviously failing to deliver?
The Deputy has the answer, in that a very severe fine was levied. Public transport is not disimproving. We need to ensure punctuality. We have a growing population. There are developments all over the country that need to be serviced by the bus network. This year, €658 million has been provided for the PSO, up from €613 million the year before.
We have seen a significant reduction in public transport fares. I will extend free fares to five- to eight-year-olds, a measure brought forward by the previous Minister. We will also look at how we can further improve the offering. People are responding. There were record passenger numbers last year and this year we must work hard to ensure they increase further. There were issues with that particular operator on certain routes. I raised those issues publicly and met representatives of the NTA. The Deputy said the contract should not have been awarded. Should the NTA cancel a contract on an existing service? What impact would that have on the road users or bus users in the area in question?
The Minister mentioned a reduction in fares. Only last week, there was an outrageous proposal that commuters would be punished for the Government's failure to deliver essential transport infrastructure. Last Friday, it was reported that commuters would be subject to increased fares to pay for public transport infrastructure and some of these projects have already been in the pipeline for decades. When we are trying to encourage more people to take public transport the last thing the Government should do is blame the victim by punishing commuters who need to get to work, go to college and attend medical appointments by making public transport more expensive for them,
Ordinary workers and families in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis can barely afford to make ends meet. They should not be forced to bear the burden of the decades of Government failures in public transport. In fact, it should be the opposite. The previous Government was dragged kicking and screaming by the former Minister to a better position but blaming and punishing commuters is a regressive step. It is not a zero-sum game and one set of priorities must not be sacrificed for another. The fare reductions must be kept in place.
Hear, hear.
There were issues on certain routes in the past few weeks and I publicly stated they were not acceptable. I use this opportunity to restate to bus operators that paying customers - all customers indeed because many do not have to pay now due to the expansion of free travel - expect a reliable services. In many instances, that is exactly what they get.
We will continue the investment in our bus fleet throughout the country, in our cities and regions and in rural transport as well. We will continue the investment in our rail network. We are seeing very significant investment and we will see further improvements in that this year and next. The national development plan review provides an opportunity to invest further capital in significant transport infrastructure to improve the lot of customers and users of public transport. We want people to use public transport. It is good for many reasons and we are seeing significant increases in passenger numbers across all modes of public transport.