I thank all Senators for prioritising the issue of road safety today in their business. It is shocking that as we sit here, so many families across the State are grieving the loss of their loved ones on our roads. Recent trends serve as a reminder to all of us that we can never be complacent about road safety. Reducing road deaths and serious injuries will only be achieved if we all highlight the importance of road safety and promote the conversation about road safety in our homes, with our families and friends and…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all the words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: — the volatility in fuel prices being experienced now, and over the last 18 months, is due to a variety of geopolitical issues including the Ukraine war, none of which the Government has any control or influence over; — crude oil is an internationally traded commodity, and its price is determined by changing global demand and supply factors, and has had a divergence of $100 (US) over the period from July …

If I have time, I will share with Deputy Brendan Smith.

As Members have stated, I confirm that the Government is not opposing this motion. I thank the Members opposite for their contributions and sincerity on this issue. Many of us here have met with some of the local people who have been campaigning for many years to see the A5 improved. The number of those killed or injured on the existing road is a sobering statistic and the rationale for an improved A5 has been very well set out now over many years. I acknowledge all of the group from the Enough is Enough campaign w…

As the Deputy will be aware, the National Development Plan 2000–2006 first identified PPPs as a mechanism to facilitate the delivery of an extensive roads programme. There are now eight PPP toll roads in the State. These eight roads were constructed and are now operated and maintained under long-term contracts with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. Revenue generated by these roads is collected by the PPP company and is used to repay loans arising from the construction of the road and to fund ongoing operations…

As I have said, the setting of tolls is a statutory function for TII and in those contracts there was a connection between toll increases and the CPI. The Deputy mentioned a few services that relate to the maintenance of our national roads and motorways, but asset renewal is a key part of that and probably one of the biggest cost implications for both public roads and roads that have a toll, so we maintain the asset for the long term. Anyone who has any knowledge of construction knows inflation is having an impact …

I acknowledge the impact of the increased tolls on motorists and families. That is why we deferred the increase for six months. We have a vast motorway network that was developed through PPPs. People can be critical of them. Neither I nor the Deputy were in the House then. To be fair, at the time they delivered an infrastructural outcome that has helped connect Ireland and built regional connectivity across the board and supported that development. The contracts are clear. Some of them run for between 30 and 40 yea…

The rail freight market in Ireland is open. Currently, a commercial arm of Iarnród Éireann is active in the sector. While the rail freight industry has declined in Ireland in recent decades, there are clear opportunities for growth, as demonstrated by the success of the existing Ballina corridor. Since Brexit, trade patterns between Ireland and continental Europe have shifted significantly. Containerised freight flows through ports on the south coast have increased and thereby offered potential for longer distance …

Two things are happening, as I said in the previous response. The draft all-island rail review will be published in July for the purposes of environmental assessment and is to be finalised in the autumn. Separately, we will be commencing a review of our national ports policy. We will be publishing an issues paper on that in the coming weeks which will set out the trajectory on capacity for our ports. Rail will play an important role as part of our wider ports policy review. Waterford Port and other ports will be an…

The draft review will be published for environmental assessment in the coming weeks. We will welcome everyone's engagement on it. There is a lot of commentary about Dublin Port and being able to move it at the flick of a switch or turn it into a strategic zone for housing. It plays a hugely important role in our economy. Given the trade and logistics network that has evolved over decades, it will continue to play a strategic role from a trade perspective. We need to complement that with ambition in the south east, …

There is a huge range of activity occurring across the rail network to improve rail transport for passengers with a variety of projects set for delivery over the next few years. In the short term we will see a new station opening at Kishoge on the Kildare line late this year; new rail carriages entering into service next year through the addition of 41 new carriages to the intercity fleet; and a new station opening at Woodbrook on the DART line by the end of 2024. We will see the new DART+ fleet start to arrive nex…

The next iteration in terms of decision-making will be the all-island strategic rail review. It will inform the development and decision-making of interurban and interregional rail across the island over the coming decades. It provides the strategic backdrop to rail investment in our region that the Jaspers review noted was lacking when considering phases 2 and 3 of the corridor. The review will provide important scope for real improvement of rail services across existing and potential future corridors of the netwo…

Thankfully, because of the management of the economy and the fact that we are running budgetary surpluses, we have the opportunity to invest in line with our enormous ambition for capital investment in rail infrastructure and other areas. We are ambitious. We have to do that in a strategic way. The rail review will provide an opportunity for that. A significant milestone in the MetroLink project was cleared in July 2022 when the Cabinet granted decision gate 1 approval under the public spending code. This enabled i…

This question may have been submitted prior to last week's public meeting at which it was agreed, as we can now confirm, that funding of €280,000 is being provided to Tipperary County Council to allow this project to proceed to the next stage of development, which is known as phase 3 - preliminary design. I know the Deputy will welcome that decision. I thank him and other local public representatives such as Councillor Anglim, Deputy Cahill and others, as well as the local community generally, for their keen intere…

I thank the Deputy. As he has said, there is a long history to this. Having been down there last week - the Deputy was there as well - I understand it is important from a road safety perspective that we see progress on the preliminary design work and hopefully a planning application after it. It is in the interests of providing safe active travel for the community in Ardfinnan that there is an independent bridge, as the Deputy has said. I understand the history and the concerns within the local community and how th…

We are at a point in progress that was not there two weeks ago, as the Deputy is aware. Thanks to the strong advocacy of all public representatives and the community council, we are now in a position to develop that preliminary design. There has to be a process around design and planning for every aspect of public infrastructure. I am sure the NTA and the council will be able to provide information on the historical funding for consultants or other structures. The most important thing for the community is that ther…

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP. Approximately €491 million of Exchequer capital funds have bee…

The only decision made has been to allocate funding for 2023. No decision has been made for 2024. That decision will be made later in the year for every national road in the national development plan. I want to give clarity on that. Having met with the council, I know there is a poor safety record on the N17. The Deputy is also correct that this road is important for healthcare, regional connectivity and the local economy in the north west. That is why it is in the national development plan. As part of the Atlantic…

There are a number of roads around Letterkenny listed in the national development plan, as part of the overall trans-European transport network. This proposed project will remove through traffic from a number of towns and villages, which will have positive social and environmental impacts on local residents. Road users will benefit from improved journey time certainty. The project also provides the opportunity to introduce active transport facilities and encourage physical activity in the area. The Deputy mentioned…

As part of action 6 of the Government’s road safety strategy, a review is under way to examine the framework for setting speed limits, including specific consideration of the introduction of a 30 km/h default speed limit in urban areas. The group was established in late 2021 and comprised representatives of the Department of Transport, NTA, TII, local authorities, the RSA and An Garda Síochána. The review group, as part of its work, carried out an assessment of the existing framework of speed limits, including the …