Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 30 Jan 2002

Vol. 547 No. 1

Written Answers. - Capital Projects.

Brian O'Shea

Ceist:

192 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the capital projects financed by her Department in each constituency which commenced or were completed in 2001; the amount of money in each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1296/02]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

In relation to public transport, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the expenditure on a constituency-by-constituency basis. Apart from meeting general transport objectives, a well functioning nationwide public transport infrastructure is vital for making optimal use of road infrastructure, minimising the impact on the environment of transport, promoting balanced regional development and making transport as widely accessible as possible. Most of the projects being undertaken, therefore, will provide benefits across constituency or county borders.

During 2001, Dublin Bus ordered and received delivery of 56 replacement buses and Bus Éireann ordered and received delivery of 70 buses. Monasterevin Station was completed in 2001 at a cost of 2.54 million as was Tralee Bus Station. Listing of projects completed or commenced in 2001 does not give a full picture of the considerable investment being made by this Government under the national development plan as a number of the projects commenced in 2000 will take a number of years to complete. The plan, designed to span the years 2000 to 2006, will see an investment of 2.8 billion in public transport projects throughout the State.

For the Deputy's benefit the major projects under way since 2000 include the following: delivery of 38 DART railcars which will serve to increase DART capacity by approximately 50%; commencement of work on the redevelopment of Heuston Station to accommodate additional train paths by reorganising rail approaches to the station and the provision of additional platforms – this project is to take approximately 18 months and will allow the more efficient use of facilities at the station and allow it to accommodate more trains; design work on the Kildare corridor; design and costing work on the DASH, Dublin Area Suburban Enhancement; 80 diesel railcars ordered for delivery in 2002/3, 60 from NDP funds and 20 from Iarnród Éireann's own resources; construction of a new railcar depot in Drogheda to commence shortly; tenders for the supply of up to 66 new mainline rail carriages being examined by Iarnród Éireann with a decision shortly; and 281 new buses have been delivered to Bus Átha Cliath to date under the NDP to provide new and additional bus services in the Dublin area – these buses have increased capacity on routes and increased frequency of services in peak hours.

All new BÁC buses delivered in 2000 and 2001 are low floor and wheelchair accessible. Nine quality bus corridors are now in operation – Malahide, Lucan, Stillorgan, Finglas, north Clondalkin, Rathfarnham, Tallaght, Blanchardstown and Swords. Plans are under way to construct a new bus garage for over 200 buses at Harristown in north Dublin.

Bus Éireann has taken delivery of 218 new buses to date under the NDP. The purchase of these new buses has led to a very substantial improvement in services increasing peak capacity by 50% on all main corridors into Dublin and regeneration of public transport services in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford with increase in departures up by 25% to 50%. New bus stations in Athlone and Skibbereen are nearing completion. Bus Áras is undergoing a major refurbishment programme.

In November 2001 the National Research Network HEANet – www.heanet.ie – completed the next generation internet project which upgrades the level of international telecommunications capacity available to researchers and third level institutions throughout the State. This project received 2,993,000; 2000 – 964,000; 2001 2,029,000) in support from the information society fund through the Department of Public Enterprise and 7 x 155 megabytes per second units of capacity purchased by the State as part of the international connectivity project.

Other capital projects financed by my Department are listed in the following table.

Constituency	Project	000
Galway West	Fire rescue equipment at Galway Regional Airport	266
Mayo	Fire rescue equipment and structural repairs at Knock Airport	303
Sligo/Leitrim	Fire rescue equipment and navigational aids at Sligo Regional Airport	182
Waterford	Fire rescue equipment and navigational aids at Waterford Regional Airport	55
Longford	Upgrading a cable system in Longford Town	60
Leitrim	The provision of regional points of presence for high speed telecommunications purposes	189
Cork	The provision of a fibre optic link from Cork to Clonakilty business park	427
Dublin, Kildare, Limerick, Tipperary	The wrapping of fibre optic cable around ESB's transmission wires	2,012
Dublin South Central	Digital Hub Project	75,930
Dublin South East	Expenditure by the Radiological Protection Institute on the refurbishment of newly acquired office accommodation and the upgrading of equipment and instrumentation for the Institute's laboratories.	291