As the Deputy is aware, on the proposal for a rail line from Navan to Dublin, an assessment report was undertaken by the NTA, which has responsibility for the development and implementation of public transport in the greater Dublin area, GDA. The assessment report undertaken by the NTA was published as a background paper to the draft transport strategy for the GDA at the end of 2021. It considered the strategic rationale for such a rail link, assessed rail and bus options, examined potential alignments of a rail li…

It has not been promised for 25 years. It has only come back into the frame as being formally subject to the greater Dublin area transport strategy.

I know but it was never on the formal strategic list of projects that would be invested in.

It was before my time.

That was over 20 years ago. Now the assessment has been done and it has been decided that this is the correct strategic investment for us to make. We have to be honest with the people of Navan though. As I said earlier, we have €70 billion worth of projects and we have a €35 billion budget in this decade. It will probably be a similar budget in the next decade but we have to start planning now. As soon as the greater Dublin area transport strategy is signed off and approved we can start looking at timelines, costin…

I agree with the Deputy and we need to build as quickly as we can. What would also complement this, as well as the greater Dublin area transport strategy, is the strategic rail review we are completing at the moment. It is important that it also indicates that the likes of this line make sense in where our investment priorities lie. We have a lot of priorities and we have a real challenge. We have to build rail in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford as well as Dublin because we have an imbalanced system. As the De…

No. It is not.

The Deputy is right. We have an immediate issue in Meath and Kildare, where all this population growth is happening, and we must provide public transport solutions there. We also have to invest in the other parts of the country, as we discussed earlier, including in rural Ireland and elsewhere.

I understand that the NTA expects to commence the review of the 2016 Galway transport strategy and the development of a new Galway metropolitan area transport strategy by the end of this year. The NTA will appoint a specialist team through an open tender process to assist it, in conjunction with Galway city and county councils, in undertaking work on developing the strategy. The tendering process for the specialist team has yet to commence formally but will be advertised through the appropriate channels. The ambiti…

The strategy will include a feasibility study on light rail in Galway. I mentioned that specifically in my response. I would not read anything into the lines where it was not mentioned. The process in Galway will be similar to Cork. I would like Galway City and County Council to put in high-quality bus corridors, the likes of this cross-city routes such as the Dublin Road, which will go into planning next year. As the Deputy said, the disconnect in the city is because people live on one side of it and often travel …

The strategy has to start before the end of the year so this is not in some distant future. This has to start in the next number of months-----

Yes, and the work on the whole new strategy that we have to start straightaway. Specifically and very pointedly in my response, I said that that must include a feasibility study for light rail in Galway city. There are other elements such as park and ride, active travel, where we have had such difficulty in Galway and BusConnects. There are also ongoing upgrades to the rail system around Oranmore and a number of other projects. The work cannot await the conclusion of the strategy. We have to start building and prov…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 23 together. In response to the Deputy’s query, the total capital funding allocated to the Department for investment in 2022 is €2.547 billion. As of the end of August 2022, €926.116 million in capital was profiled for expenditure and €707 million was issued. The variance was €219.110 million. In addition, €155.043 million of unspent capital was carried over from last year, of which €151.238 million was issued. I will briefly summarise the expenditure profile for each program…

I agree with the Deputy. One of the key investments we need to make is in the protection and renewal of existing assets. As they Deputy will be aware, if we let a road go it costs far more to bring it back when there is structural damage, potholes and so on. It is far better to invest now in maintaining the road surface, the network and the drains. That saves money in the long run. We must ensure that is protected, which it has been in recent budgets. The reality is that there are so many different asks, as we hear…

I recall the Deputy and I having several conversations on that. The prioritising of roads is something that TII has a central role in. It does all work in this entire capital budget. There is not too much negotiation with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on the capital side, because the figures are set out in the national development plan. The approach to take in investment priorities within that is also set out in the plan. However, we have to take into account local specifics and areas, particularly…

I am sorry to hear that the Deputy's train was late this morning and that he, like Deputy Tóibín, had difficulty getting to the Dáil, which may account for some of the reordering of questions we have had to do. First, as I have mentioned, the performance of all public transport operators is monitored by the NTA as part of the contractual arrangements in place between it and the operators. These contractual arrangements allow for not just the monitoring of performance by the authority and the publication by it of an…

I agree with the Deputy. As I said earlier, if companies are not delivering on the terms of the contract and the service level agreements, there have to be consequences. The NTA has that stick with which to impose fines. The operators that cannot meet service standards cannot expect that they will retain and continue to provide services on particular routes. It is a problem. There is an issue right across all public transport companies and the various sectors of the economy. We know about the issues with getting fu…

We will look at the various options. I will make a general point. There is bad weather today, the schools are back and offices are busier midweek than they otherwise might be. Many people will have seen that the traffic this morning was very heavy. The problem is that we do not have enough public transport. The solution to these problems is increased public transport and providing the priority for public transport. What should give us encouragement in that regard is that the public transport numbers are shooting up…

Yes.

It is a sightly complicated greenway. It is different from some of the others. I understand that Meath County Council is progressing the greenway as a joint greenway and river navigation restoration project. We are only responsible for the greenway part. However, the council put the schemes together, which makes it slightly complicated and different from other greenway projects. My Department and TII have no role in respect of the river navigation aspect. Questions on that issue will have to be directed to Meath Co…