Written Answers Nos. 208-218
208. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Transport the reason no proper funding is being allocated for the N86 road to Dingle, County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55295/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the operation, management and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. This is also subject to the requirements of the Public Spending Code and necessary statutory approvals. In this context, TII is best placed to advise you.
Noting the above position, I have referred your question, on this occasion, to TII for a direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.
209. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Transport if there are sources of public funding available to upgrade electric charging points (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55339/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Climate Action Plan, we need to increase the number of EVs on our roads to nearly one million by 2030.
Preparations are underway to establish an Office of Low Emission Vehicles. This Office will play an important role in our transition to zero emission vehicles. It will co-ordinate measures to support the uptake of EVs and the rollout of charge point infrastructure.
Having an effective and reliable recharging network is essential to enabling drivers to choose electric. Charging at home is the most convenient and cheapest way to recharge. However there is also a need for a seamless public charging network that will provide for situations or instances where home charging is not possible such as on-street and residential charging, destination charging, and workplace charging. Connection costs are an operational matter for ESB Networks .
My Department is also developing a new scheme which will support the installation of destination charge points in locations such as hotels and parks. This new initiative will help provide another critical link in the overall network for public charging.
210. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Transport the steps he is taking to advance the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy. [55344/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra211. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Transport if he has considered implementing bus rapid transport in Cork city and county along the same corridors as the proposed light rail. [55345/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 210 and 211 together.
As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has, in co-operation with the local authorities, developed the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy.
The Deputy will be aware that consultation is currently ongoing in relation to BusConnects Cork and that Phase 1 of the Cork Commuter Rail Programme has been included in Ireland's National Resilience & Recovery Plan as approved by the European Council earlier this year. These are two hugely important elements of the overall CMATS and I am glad to see considerable progress is being made on both.
Noting their responsibility in relation to the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a direct reply. Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 days.
212. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Transport the steps he has taken to encourage cycling initiatives in Cork city and county. [55346/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Programme for Government committed that €360 million in cross-Government funding will be spent on walking and cycling per annum over the lifetime of the Government. This investment will help support the delivery of circa 1,000 kilometres of improved walking and cycling infrastructure by 2025 as well as additional investment in Greenways.
This year we have seen a significant increase in funding, in line with the Government’s prioritisation of Active Travel and Greenways. Earlier this year I announced an allocation of €240 million for Active Travel projects in the Greater Dublin Area and Regional Cities including Cork. Cork City Council received an allocation of €29.6m and Cork County Council received an allocation of €15.78m under this funding programme.
To reflect the Government’s commitment to Active Travel and the increased funding allocations to walking and cycling, I communicated to the County and City Management Association (CCMA) in January 2021 that extra resources for local authorities and the National Roads Offices (NROs) would be funded by my Department to support and progress the delivery of Active Travel projects around the country. Up to 218 staff have been allocated to local authorities and an additional 30 staff to the NROs under this resourcing initiative. It is anticipated that Cork City Council will receive 11 additional staff and Cork County Council 6 additional staff over the course of the year as recruitment processes have begun and will continue.
In addition to the increased funding for walking and cycling infrastructure, a number of smaller-scale initiatives are being progressed by my Department to support and promote efforts to increase Active Travel. The Department of Transport funds the delivery of CycleRight training through Cycling Ireland, which delivers cycling training to school-children around the country. In partnership with the Department of Education we also launched the Safe Routes to Schools Programme (SRTS) earlier this year, which aims to accelerate the delivery of walking, scooting and cycling infrastructure on key access routes to schools. 170 schools were notified on 21 June that they have been selected for inclusion in the first round of the SRTS Programme to support walking and cycling infrastructure for primary and post-primary schools including 6 in Cork City Council area and 10 in Cork County Council area. €15 million will be allocated to the schools selected in Round 1 of this Programme.
Progress is also being made on the Midleton to Youghal Greenway to which nearly €20m has been allocated. This Greenway is expected to open in 2023, whilst pre-construction funding has also been allocated to examine potential Greenway options between Mallow and Dungarvan.
The step-change in funding committed in Budget 2021 and the introduction of numerous innovative measures to encourage Active Travel shows the Government's commitment to this area, and I look forward to the delivery of the numerous projects and programmes in Cork City and County and around the country.
213. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Transport the reason Action 106 in the new Climate Action Plan to deliver a network of safe, segregated cycling facilities has been delayed; the mitigation measures that are being put in place to ensure no further delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55402/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government is firmly committed to encouraging the use of walking, cycling and other active travel methods, and this has been signalled by almost tripling the budget for Active Travel in 2021. This year, and each successive year up to 2025 at least, we will see approximately €360 million per annum, 20% of our total transport budget, invested in Ireland’s walking and cycling infrastructure to provide a safe and connected network to those who wish to commute to work or school via healthy and sustainable transport modes.
Active travel, such as walking, cycling and scooting, will play a key role in the decarbonisation of the transport sector. Encouraging a modal shift away from traditionally fossil-fuelled vehicles and towards active modes of travel also has the additional benefit of improving mental and physical health, something which has come into sharp focus in the past year with COVID-19.
Action 106 the Deputy referred to had been delayed awaiting publication of the Climate Action Plan before the final 5-Year Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Delivery Plan is published to ensure coherence between both documents in terms of active travel actions and targets.
With the recent publication of the Climate Action Plan 2021 and the commitment therein to reallocate road space to pedestrians and cyclists I expect to receive a revised 5 Year Cycling and Walking Plan shortly from the National Transport Authority and will aim to publish it shortly thereafter.
214. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Transport the estimated amount of electricity that will be required to power one million electric cars (details supplied) in view of the measures targeted in the Climate Action Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55253/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the high demand scenario outlined in the Programme for Government, electricity demand will almost double by 2030, while associated emissions are to be reduced by 60-80% at the same time. Total electricity demand over the next ten years is forecast to grow by between 19% and 50%, largely driven by large new energy users, which include transport electricity demand (estimated at circa 23% per annum) as a result of accelerated uptake of EV charging. It is evident therefore that additional electricity generation and enhanced demand management is needed to support the decarbonisation of our economy and society, including the transport sector, and to achieve our emission reduction targets.
While the supply and provision of electricity to the country is a policy matter for the Department of Energy, Climate and Communications (DECC), and detailed queries on this matter should be directed to that Department rather than the Department of Transport , I can inform the Deputy that under the Climate Action Plan the electricity sector commits to expanding electricity output and refining the grid to meet this additional demand, including the extra demand from electric vehicles. The Plan commits to increasing the share of electricity supply from renewable sources to up to 80%, delivering three new transmission grid connections/interconnectors to Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and the EU, as well as exploring further interconnections to other countries. A range of supporting measures will also be needed to enable this transformation of the electricity generation sector. These will include providing the conventional capacity that will be essential to ensure the security of the system, grid investments, interconnectors, and storage facilities.
Furthermore, the Climate Action Plan outlines a number of measures to deliver on increased electricity demand management including:
- The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) will deliver a new Demand Side Strategy which will aim to have industrial, commercial and residential demand fully participating in supporting system needs with high levels of renewable generation, and seek to facilitate active participation by consumers and communities in the energy market.
- The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the CRU and the system operators, will work with large energy users and enterprise development agencies, to develop approaches to enhance reporting and usage of lower carbon energy sources, including increased transparency of electricity emissions data to enable large energy users to address their electricity emissions across time (hourly) and geographic locations.
- EirGrid and ESB Networks will undertake an in-depth analysis of local, regional and system level flexibility requirements, and modify their own approaches and procedures to facilitate demand flexibility, to drive down costs to the consumer and provide the necessary flexibility to meet the needs of the energy transition to 2030.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (the CRU) has statutory responsibility, under S.I. 60 of 2005, to monitor and take measures necessary to ensure the security of electricity supply in Ireland. The CRU is assisted in its statutory role by EirGrid, the electricity transmission system operator. The CRU is an independent statutory body and solely accountable to a committee of the Oireachtas for the performance of its functions.
EirGrid’s Generation Capacity Statement which was published on Wednesday 29 September and covers the period 2021 to 2030 sets out a medium term need to develop 1,850 MW of generation capacity by 2025. On the same day, the CRU published an information note, setting out the programme of actions being progressed to deliver the required generation capacity. The actions include: increasing the availability of existing generators; developing of new generation capacity – including temporary generation capacity in advance of winter 2022; extending the operational life of some existing generators; new rules for the grid connection of data centres; and actions to enhance demand-side response, including large consumers reducing demand when the system margin is low.
The Deputy should note that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has statutory responsibility to monitor and take measures necessary to ensure the security of electricity supply in Ireland. In this regard, the CRU recently published a programme of actions to deliver 1,850 MW of generation capacity by 2025. Such actions will help power our future electric fleet.
215. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Transport the number of persons awaiting a driver test in each test centre area, by age, in tabular form. [55258/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe driving test is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority.
The information requested is held by the Authority and this question is being referred to it for direct reply.
I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten working days.
216. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Transport the number of persons awaiting a driver test appointment in each centre, by age; and the length of time they have been awaiting a test, in tabular form. [55259/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe driving test is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority.
The information requested is held by the Authority and this question is being referred to it for direct reply.
I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten working days.
217. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Transport the waiting lists for theory tests for driver test applicants, by test centre and county; and the length of time each centre is waiting to clear the backlog. [55260/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe driver theory test is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority.
The information requested is held by the Authority and this question is being referred to it for direct reply.
I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten working days.
218. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Transport the number of applicants, by age and county, for the driver theory test. [55261/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe driver theory test is the statutory responsibility of the Road Safety Authority.
The information requested is held by the Authority and this question is being referred to it for direct reply.
I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a response has not been received within ten working days.
