Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 November 2017
28. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his key priorities for investment in transport and tourism infrastructure following the mid-term review of the capital investment plan. [49603/17]
View answerThe Minister is aware that the new capital plan is scheduled to be published before the end of this year. A commitment was given by the previous Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, that the Minister would publish the Department's submission to the capital plan. It is very important that we have a debate in the House on the priorities and where the money will be invested in infrastructure over the coming years. I hope the Minister will enlighten the House this morning on what are his priorities.
I thank the Deputy for the question, which is very important, particularly in view of the mid-term capital review and the ten year capital plan. The Deputy is aware that following the completion of the mid-term review of the capital plan, my Department secured the largest increase in capital funding of all Departments out to 2021 and the end of the current capital plan.
Total capital funding over the next four years will now be €7 billion for transport, €200 million for sport and €169 million for tourism, and those funding levels represent an increase of €1.2 billion, or 20%. This allows for a significant acceleration of previous plans and makes a great number of projects possible across the country.
In public transport, the priorities are to address congestion and the emerging capacity constraints in our public transport system across our cities. The additional funding secured will allow for the roll-out of projects such as BusConnects, which will overhaul and improve our bus infrastructure; the city centre rail re-signalling project, which will improve speeds on mainline rail in the greater Dublin area; a new central traffic control centre for the national rail network; infrastructure maintenance across the national rail network; additional Luas capacity with additional trams and longer trams on the Luas network; and continued planning and design for the new metro north.
Our roads development programme will see a total of €2.4 billion invested over the next four years. The bulk of the expenditure in the programme will be directed towards road maintenance and renewal and meeting contractual commitments under the road public private partnership programme. As regards regional and local roads, there will be a significant number of additional road upgrade schemes aimed at addressing safety, employment generation and support and urban regeneration to be advanced.
The improved funding levels will also allow for greater investment in cycling and walking routes in our main cities. The threefold increase in funding I secured will allow for planning and design work with commencement of an intensive construction programme in 2019.
In terms of climate change, I am setting aside €35 million over the next four years to back new ideas that will help decarbonise the transport sector, including pilot initiatives for low emission technologies. As part of a package of measures and incentives to accelerate the take-up of electric vehicles, I have secured funding for the National Transport Authority to allow it to introduce an electric vehicle taxi grant
In the area of tourism, I was pleased to announce a €30 million increase in funding available to support greenways development, while an additional €2 million is being allocated to promote digital investment in tourism marketing, which is important in the context of Brexit and the decline in visitors from Britain.
I thank the Minister. He failed to acknowledge that in 2010 Ireland recorded the lowest proportional capital spend in the EU on infrastructure. In fact, in 2015 only 53% of the necessary maintenance was carried out. He spoke about increased capital secured in the 2018 budget, but this is still 31% below what is needed just to keep our infrastructure in a steady state condition. We need to be far more ambitious than talking about keeping our infrastructure in a steady state condition. We need to plan to ensure the right investment is put into the right infrastructure. We do not know, for instance, the status of the DART underground. The Minister spoke about new projects that will be carbon friendly. What is the status of the DART underground? It is critical infrastructure which will enable us to connect all of our rail lines.
Only two weeks ago, the chairperson of Irish Rail came before the committee. He outlined the gaping need for additional funding if Irish Rail is to make the necessary investment in infrastructure to ensure we encourage more people to use public transport such as Irish Rail. When will the Minister publish his submission to the capital plan so we can have a real and meaningful debate in the House on the issue and not just six minutes on a priority question?
I ask Members to stick to the time limit.
I thank Deputy Troy for his response. He is right in all the facts which he has given. We had the lowest proportion in 2010, but the infrastructure was in a very precarious state.
As the Deputy said, we first need to tackle the business of the steady state. There is no point in introducing new and extravagant infrastructure when the roads are not up to par. I have spelled out very clearly some of the formidable and ambitious projects. We not just have ambition but will also deliver. The Deputy has seen what we said about BusConnects, which is a very imaginative programme. That programme will stretch over a number of years because of the amount of money we secured in the capital plan. The programme will revolutionise traffic in Dublin.
I have spelled out clearly the additional Luas capacity that is being introduced. That will sort out to a great extent the problem of the Luas on that route in Dublin. We are simultaneously addressing the legacy issues of the recession and the legacy issues of the steady state being inadequate, which will take until at least 2021, while at the same time initiating new imaginative capital projects which will go a long way to sorting out the problems, which are mostly problems of prosperity.
As people have persisted in going over time, this question is almost out of time.
While I may have said the figure I quoted related to 2010, it was in 2015 that Ireland recorded the lowest proportional capital spend in the EU. The Government is not being ambitious. When the European Commissioner for Transport, Ms Bulc, appeared before the Oireachtas committee she criticised the lack of engagement by the Government in seeking funding from the EU to make the necessary investment in infrastructure.
Someone stuck in the car coming in this morning, stuck in a crowded bus or having to stand on a train that is not on time, will not be too enamoured by the response the Minister has given me this morning. A six-minute dialogue and debate on this matter is not sufficient. In advance of the publication of the new capital plan, will the Minister secure sufficient time in this House to have a real debate on how we can access funding from the EU to ensure we make the investments needed in our public infrastructure today?
I constantly answer questions on this, not just here but in the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. I think the Deputy will find that no other Minister has attended so often to answer questions specifically on the transport budget and other ancillary issues. I am willing to do so at any time. I am willing to converse with the Deputy, to receive delegations and engage about it at any stage.
If the Deputy does not believe it is ambitious, he should say so. I have said that in both the tourism and transport sectors we will spend large sums of money on infrastructure in the coming years. We have seriously ambitious plans. The Deputy should tell me if there is no imagination in the BusConnects project. There is imagination along with €800 million in funds to be spent there. The Deputy should tell me if there is no ambition in the tourism area and we can then address issues that are dear to the Deputy's heart. Additional money will not only be spent on the greenways, but also on new brands on tourism as well as going into well-established projects there.
Before calling Deputy Munster's Question No. 29, if Members are to speak as arranged - two and a half minutes over time on that particular question - there will be only one supplementary question and one response.
