Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Road Safety Authority to appear before PAC

Chairman of the Committee John McGuinness TD said: “The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport’s Appropriation Account for 2012 is due to be examined by the Committee tomorrow. Payments totalling €1.1 billion were made on road improvements and maintenance. Among the issues we would like to address are what major projects were initiated in 2012 or came to completion; how much is needed to maintain the current national road network so that the investments in motorway do not fall into disrepair; what are the priority projects listed between now and 2016; and how much has to be given to PPP motorway companies in 2014 because tolls have not reached the contracted number.

“In relation to Public Service Provision Payments, additional funding of €36 million was reallocated to CIE in order to supplement its public service subvention. We would like the Secretary General to outline the process whereby CIE had to get a supplementary budget of €36 million and also outline the role has the Department in terms of overseeing the expenditure profile of CIE. We would also like to ascertain the current position in respect of the finances of CIE.

“In terms of Public Transport Investment Programme, expenditure under this subhead was €254 million in 2012. This relates to the upgrading of public transport infrastructure and services, including approval for Luas Cross City and the roll-out of the new Leap Card. We will be keen to determine the current priorities in terms of investment in public transport infrastructure and services.

“On the issue of management of the fixed charge notice system, the C&AG found that 49% of company summons were not pursued. One company had 203 summons that were not pursued. The revenue foregone in 2011 and 2012 in respect of company car cases terminated or not pursued is estimated at €1.12 million. We would like to know what revenue was forgone in 2013. Given that this issue was first raised in 2003 by the C&AG, we would like to know why has it taken so long to get this issue sorted out and what has been done to address this issue.

“We will also be interested in discussing cash balances at the Road Safety Authority. Reserves over the years have been steadily increasing and bank balances stood at €25.5 million at the end of 2012. The key issue here is that at a time when there was a huge scarcity of money, the RSA had a large reserve and while this may be earmarked for specific capital projects, it could well be argued that there was not a need to have a large sum sitting in the RSA’s bank account and that the State’s funding could have been reduced given the budgetary pressure that all Departments were under.”

This meeting with the Secretary General, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Moyah Murdock, CEO, Road Safety Authority will start in Committee Room 1 at 10am on Thursday, 18th June 2014. At 12.30pm, the Committee will hear from John O’Brien, Retired Chief Superintendent on the issues of the management of outsourced safety cameras.

Deputy McGuinness said: “The management of outsourced safety cameras is a matter primarily for the Garda Siochana and can be raised with Mr O Brien who has made some observations in his submission to the Committee. Basically these outsourced cameras are costing approximately €11 million per year and when they were introduced it was anticipated that they would bring in significant revenue as well as improve road safety. In fact revenue from fines detected in go-safe is significantly below expectation. We will be keen to determine how the forecasts for the effectiveness of go-safe cameras could be so wrong.”

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Committee of Public Accounts Membership
 
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Áine Collins
Gerald Nash,
Simon Harris,
Robert Dowds,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross.