Vol. 521 No. 4
8 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the plans, if any, she has to make decisions on individual rail projects for the Dublin area arising from either the Dublin suburban rail strategic review or the Dublin transportation initiative updated review of transport needs; the specific projects which will be funded from both the £1.6 billion and the £500 million contingency funds provided for in the national plan; and the cost of each project. [16408/00]
Substantial work has been undertaken by CIE and the Department on pre paring a detailed implementation programme to give effect to the comprehensive investment strategy outlined in the national development plan. The Department put additional information for me in the file and I included that in the answer but it is very detailed and factual. It outlines every project and the costs involved.
National Development Plan Public Transport/Traffic
Management Investment in the Greater Dublin Area
|
Greater Dublin Area |
£ millions |
|
Dublin Suburban Rail |
£185 million |
|
Dublin Bus Network Development |
£120 million |
|
Bus fleet replacement and equipment renewal |
£100 million |
|
Public Transport Integration |
£50 million |
|
Traffic management |
£200 million |
|
LUAS |
£430 million |
|
Contingency |
£500 million |
|
Total Amount |
£1,585 million |
The Minister should circulate it.
I will circulate it.
I put down this question because I am conscious that we are well into the period of the national development plan. Against the background of what we now know about the growth in demand and the fact that 15 years from now the number of people travelling during peak hours in the Dublin area will have doubled, from 125,000 to 500,000 – most of that increase will occur in the next few years – and given the long lead-in time for all rail projects, and conscious of our failure to provide rail infrastructure in the past and that in terms of the Luas project, which was included in the previous development plan and agreed long before it, we managed to waste the entire six years and not start it, the national development does not inspire confidence. If projects are not now identified, much less agreed to start in the current development plan, at what stage does the Minister expect to be able to adopt an overall strategic rail plan? Obviously a rail infrastructure for the city has to be an integrated one. It is not something we can proceed with piecemeal. Even if we were to proceed with one part of it, the overall plan must be in place. At what stage does the Minister envisage such a plan will be adopted? Endless plans have been published, but which one, or combination of them, will be adopted?
This plan has been adopted. The Deputy referred to the period of six years, but I remind her that, although I wish I had been in office for the past six years, I have not. All the details are in this document and the projects are priced.
I understand the national development plan has been adopted.
The details of these projects have been adopted.
I appreciate that. The point I am making is that we know what was adopted is inadequate to meet the demands that will exist very shortly. The Minister provided for a contingency fund of £500 million. Will that money be spent on one element of the overall rail project and when will a decision be made on that?
That is included in the factual information. I can read it but it would take ten to 15 minutes and the Chair might not allow me to do so. Are we still dealing with priority questions?
Yes.
I priced each project in an overall plan and the minutiae of it is set out in the reply. I can do no more than that.
Perhaps I can make it easier for the Minister. There is an ongoing debate within Cabinet on the Luas line and how it will proceed. Is the Minister aware that failure to make a decision on line B is not only holding up work on that line but on line A? Much of the debate centres around line B, given that a future rail plan for Dublin may present difficulties for proceeding as planned with that line. At what point will a decision be made by Cabinet to sign off on line B to enable work to commence on any element of any plan? I am talking about something that was provided for in the last national development plan.
The Deputy is wrong again. I realise she is well meaning and Dublin transport needs are close to her heart. I admire her for that, but I do not know what she is talking about when she says there is a hold up in the work on line A, given that that project has gone to tender. I have Cabinet approval for lines A and B. The cars are ordered for the Luas and the judge has accepted the extra section we included. I received a letter from Judge O'Leary this morning regarding the additional section from the city centre to Connolly Station and he will deal with that when he is absolved from his work in the courts during the summer recess. A Government decision on line A and line B was made in 1998. Preliminary tenders have been accepted and major tenders will be evaluated shortly. Therefore, what the Deputy said is not true.
A proposal for a metro system was put forward at a meeting of the Cabinet committee on infrastructure. That far exceeds that for which we have got Cabinet approval.
Staff in the Luas office or anyone else who knows anything about this matter do not believe it has been signed off by Cabinet. There is a short-list of tenderers, but tenders have not been sought for the construction of line A or line B. A few bushes have been removed from line B and the services are being moved to line A, but those construction projects have not been signed off by Cabinet.
The Deputy is wrong. The Government took a decision in 1998 to proceed with line A and line B. The Cabinet approved the funding to proceed with line A. I cannot be any clearer than that.
What about line B?
I do not wish there to be untruths on the record. Cabinet approval was given for line B in 1998 and what remains to be decided is the metro system, which is a proposal for a complete underground system for the city.
That concludes priority questions. We now come to deal with other questions for which an overall time limit of six minutes, including a maximum of one minute for a supplementary question and a reply to it, applies. I ask Members to bear that in mind.
