I move:
That Seanad Éireann welcomes the increased allocations for road investment in 1999; calls for further acceleration of the road development programmes; and requests the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to make a statement in the matter.
There have been significant increases in funding in 1999 for national and non-national routes. I welcome the announcement of these record allocations this year. The Minister has correctly pointed out the need to ensure that the funds are expended in an efficient and cost-effective manner. In that regard, I welcome the establishment of the implementation group which will oversee the recent report on efficiency in local government.
This year national roads will receive investment totalling £337 million. Most of that sum, £312 million, will go towards improvements while £25 million will be spent on maintenance. This represents a significant 17 per cent increase on the 1998 figures at a time when inflation is between 1 and 2 per cent. The investment in national routes will ensure the commencement of major projects this year, including the Drogheda bypass, the Limerick southern ring road, the Newmarket-on-Fergus and Hurlers Cross scheme and bypasses of Croom and Kilmacthomas. Work will continue on the Dunleer-Dundalk motorway, the southern cross route in Dublin and the bypasses of Nenagh and Blackpool in Cork. The increased allocation will also facilitate the completion of the River Lee tunnel and the bypasses at Arklow, Donegal and Cavan. All these projects are welcome.
In the past there has been criticism that the investment in non-national roads has not been sufficient to meet requirements. This year there is a significant increase to a total of £237 million, which is a 19 per cent increase on the 1998 figures. A total of £138 million will go towards restoration works on regional and local roads. Another good initiative taken by the Minister is that county councils will be obliged to have multi-annual road works programmes which prioritise projects. This forward planning will facilitate the focusing of investment on areas of real need in the future.
The funds for maintenance works this year have increased by 36 per cent for the restoration programme and by 32 per cent for the discretionary maintenance grants. The discretionary maintenance grants are useful to county councils in addressing areas of significant need in their counties. The urban authorities received a 43 per cent increase on the 1998 allocation. This money will be put to good use in many towns, including my area which received a significant increase. This was welcomed by the urban council and will be targeted at areas which have been in need of restoration and improvement for many years.
This investment is set against the background of the importance of transport to the economy. Approximately 89 per cent of goods are carried on national routes. The need for upgraded roads is irrefutable. This is more important for a small island country such as Ireland which is unable to avail of the benefits of rail transport because the distances are too short. As a result, rail is always uncompetitive for short hauls in comparison to road transport. The argument that we should shift the transportation of some goods to rail will always be weak because logistics dictate the position. If anything, there will be only a marginal shift and, therefore, rail will never be a substitute for heavy investment in roads.
In terms of pay back to the economy, the programme put forward by the National Roads Authority is probably not as ambitious as one would like. It targets expenditure of £6 billion up to the year 2019. However, this is against the background of inadequate and insufficient investment over decades by the Minister's predecessors. This applies to successive Governments, particularly those in the 1970s and 1980s. I have always decried the terrible profligacy which took place in the mid-1980s. At that time, the budget deficit was increased from £12 billion to £24 billion. This placed an intolerable burden on the Exchequer in terms of funding the loan repay ments in future years. The money was, in the main, put towards current expenditure. If it had been targeted and invested in improving the road infrastructure, there would be a pay back today which would more than offset the imposition of interest and capital repayments that must be made. I hope the Minister will continue that type of forward thinking.
It is essential in a trading economy such as Ireland's that the necessary infrastructure is in place to facilitate efficient and cost effective trading. This adds to the competitiveness of the country as an efficient trading nation. When one travels in any part of the country, one must be disappointed at the failure to meet this challenge over decades. It is self-evident that this problem cannot be resolved overnight. In this day and age it should be possible for one to travel all the way from the capital city to the next major centre of population, Cork, or to Belfast on motorways. However, that is far from the case at present. If it was possible it would bring about a tremendous reduction in the travelling time for individuals but particularly for goods vehicles and commercial traffic which are essential to the economic activity and profitability of companies. Motorways and good access routes would significantly reduce the time taken on these routes and time is money nowadays in business. The cost of transportation is all imported, whether it is the wear and tear on vehicles, the fuel used or the vehicles themselves, and that heavy toll is money spent on imported products. If we had the facilities here we could have a significant reduction in this area.
The Minister has an unenviable task in the challenges before him because the two biggest issues likely to be with us over the next decade or more are improvements in road infrastructure and the provision of accommodation at an acceptable and affordable level, and these are set against increased affluence and an increase in population. The number of car registrations is to increase by approximately 60 per cent in a decade from last year and the population is to grow by 700,000. All that will put demands on existing road and housing infrastructure. The Minister will have everybody's support in his efforts to seek that the enlightened policies are in place to ensure we meet the challenge and that the resources are provided to give impetus to that policy.
The road infrastructure, particularly around the capital city, highlights the failure to plan. The Department of the Environment and Local Government, the corporation, state agencies and probably political leaders in the past failed to anticipate the need for a proper sophisticated and modern road infrastructure commensurate with the developing economy we have today. The M50, which is a significant improvement in getting around the capital city, needs to be augmented by an inner relief route, such as the Dublin port tunnel. If one is travelling to or around the city, one should be able to operate on motorway standard roads which allow reasonably close access to one's destination rather than the congestion we have. In that regard it is important best international practices are applied and planners who have failed us in the past are not allowed to continue to repeat the mistakes. Perhaps they should be replaced by more competent people to ensure the mistakes – one of which I see every day at the Red Cow Inn – are not repeated. There are sufficient models, on continental Europe and elsewhere, for us to avoid that type of mistake being made. It was a fairly recent mistake and we cannot afford that type of thing.
It is also important that the improvements are sustainable; by that I mean improvements made now should not have to be rectified in ten to 20 years. When I travel around the country I see many examples of road improvements undertaken ten to 20 or 25 years ago which are now inadequate and need to be realigned. If we have proper planning with a 60 to 80 year time horizon there is no way that should happen.
Overnight lorry parks are necessary to comply with legislation for the transport industry. Road haulage and other bodies have articulated this need. I know planning authorities, because of restrictions on access to national routes, are often the obstacle to these things but we must have all the other necessary facilities.
When I talk about best practice on road improvement, it applies equally to maintenance. There are many examples around the country. The Minister provided a good increase in money this year, but it is very important that it is spent wisely. There are many examples of a huge disparity in the quality of roads between one engineer's area and another. Obviously money is one aspect, but the human resource and the competence of our engineers and local authorities is fundamental to getting the benefit from it.