I thank the Chair for the opportunity to speak on this matter and the Minister of State for being here to respond on behalf of the Department of Transport.
The matter I wish to raise concerns the general provision of public transport infrastructure in the Dublin region. I wish to ascertain the status of the many projects promised for the area. The most recent budget delivered by the Government successfully created the impression that the capital projects under the national development plan would not be affected by the economic climate and that the focus would be on examining current spending to find what efficiencies could be made there. In recent weeks a number of media reports and various comments have given rise to the impression that this is about to change. Therefore, I want the Minister for Transport to clarify the status of the transport projects currently promised for the Dublin region, particularly on the north side. Two projects in which I am interested are metro north and the provision of the BX and D lines for the Luas, which will extend the Luas lines to the north side and into Grangegorman to support the new planned DIT campus for that area.
The most recent public debate and discussion on this matter indicated that the timetable to which the Government had committed was unchanged. Will the Minister of State, on behalf of the Department of Transport, comment on whether there will be slippage in these projects in light of the current circumstances and, if that is the case, will he highlight the new timetables for these plans?
Leaving aside the obvious need for these two major projects in the Dublin area, I would make two points. First, in the debates we have had on the economy in recent weeks in the Seanad, the stance of the Government on European fiscal stimulus projects — a clumsy phrase — has shifted slightly. Originally, the Government said there was no need for a stimulus package in Ireland. Then it went on to state that the interest rate cuts the European Central Bank is giving is the stimulus package. However, the provision of the national development plan within the original timeframe would probably be the greatest stimulus package the economy could get. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State would provide clarity and an update on the position in the House this evening.
The second reason I believe the update is needed is that many of the projects about which we are talking are due to be provided by public private partnerships. If the financial model of PPPs is to work, there must be liquidity and lending, because what we are doing is asking the private sector to take on board the risk the public sector is not in a position to take on. In light of the changed economic circumstances we are now in, it would be helpful if the Government would comment on whether the public private partnership projects it seeks to deliver for national public infrastructure are on track. In looking at the private markets and the big companies seeking to provide these projects, does the Department of Finance believe there is capacity within the private sector for these projects?
I note with great interest a statement made by Dublin City Council last night. While it had been relying on the public private partnership model to provide some much-needed public housing projects, it is beginning to shift from that position and now has expressed its belief that the requisite lending and liquidity is not in place to make that happen and, consequently, there is a need for it to shoulder more responsibility than it may have wished.
There is a great need from a transport perspective to deliver these projects and from an economic perspective, their value to our economy is clear. I welcome the Minister of State taking this opportunity to update the House on where matters stand at present and his provision to Members of a new timetable, if such exists, in light of the circumstances in which we all find ourselves.
