Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle as ucht a phoist nua. Congratulations on your new post, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Deputy for his question as I know that this is a matter of interest to him and to many Deputies within the House. I certainly know that by the number of queries that I have received over the past week or so. The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, as the Deputy will be aware, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads funded from councils' own resources are supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority. They send their submissions up to the Department. As outlined in the 2025 regional and local roads grant programme, which I announced on 14 February this year, the Government is strongly committed to protecting the existing regional and local road network. This network is fundamental in maintaining social and economic connectivity, linking people and places across the country. Ireland's regional and local road network spans 96,000 km. The network requires significant funding to ensure it remains fit for purpose, safe and resilient. As such, €713 million has been allocated to regional and local road grants in 2025, with approximately 90% of this funding being directed towards maintenance and renewal works. This represents an overall increase of 8% in funding, year on year. This funding will support local authorities in carrying out an extensive 2025 programme of maintenance and restoration works. Funding also supports various safety improvement works, bridge rehabilitation schemes, drainage works, climate adaptation measures, community involvement projects and the maintenance of former national roads.
Sentiment score: 0.36
Tá am breise ag an Teachta anocht. There is no kite flying on this. This is real money for roads across the country. We announced them and people will see the network of roads. As part of this investment in 2025, just under €48 million is being invested in developing and upgrading this infrastructure through vital strategic projects. The Deputy will be familiar with some of them. These include projects identified for development under the national development plan such as the Tralee northern relief road – I do not think that is a kite anyone is flying - and the Shannon crossing, the Killaloe bypass and the R494 upgrade. Furthermore, €22.2 million is also being provided for smaller-scale road improvements under the specific grant category. I could go through the list of all the roads but I have published it. It includes €330 million for road pavement strengthening and €75 million for preventative surface stressing. Our budget will be expended this year. I can assure the Deputy of that. We have a very strong pipeline of works under way. In the coming weeks I will announce the national works programme too. It will see significant investment. I am glad to see some significant projects with which the Deputy will be familiar, such as the Adare bypass which has started. Again, that is not a kite; it is happening. We will continue to invest in our roads because I accept there are deficits in areas and we want to try to address them.
Sentiment score: 0.19
All of us want to see further improvements in the road network and in particular when we look at regional and local roads. I do not think anyone can dispute the investment for 2025 is very significant. Will it do every regional and local road across the country? Of course it will not. You must have a works programme as well and the capacity to deliver those programmes. That is what I and the Ministers of State, Deputies Canney and Buttimer, in this Government will be focused on. It is for the local authorities to bring the schemes forward and to make submissions to ourselves and through the roads authorities as well. It is from that decisions are made in relation to the delivery of the funding for those schemes. We are focused on delivery. People will see significant improvements over the term of this Government. In any annual works programme there is no question that every road within it will be addressed but we will have a significant announcement very shortly in relation to the national roads programme. The Deputy will look at it, and rightly so, but these are projects we want to advance further.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank the Deputy for this important question on transport sectoral emissions. My Department's national investment framework for transport in Ireland, NIFTI, sets out modal and intervention hierarchies to achieve transport objectives. One of the four priorities is decarbonisation and as such, the sponsoring agency of any road project must consider any potential positive or negative impacts of a given project in relation to decarbonisation. The sponsor must also demonstrate that a given option is the most environmentally sustainable and cost-effective solution for the issue at hand. As part of our NIFTI framework we have also developed and published the transport appraisal framework, TAF, which sets out the detailed framework for how all transport projects must be assessed. Under the TAF, climate change impacts are one of the seven appraisal criteria for intervention. As part of the development of a project's business case, each individual project is also assessed for strategic policy alignment under which the project's alignment with climate policy, including the relevant climate action plan, is considered. All of this assessment is published as part of the publication of the business case. In developing the sectoral emissions ceilings as part of the Government's climate action plan, the impact of the NDP's planned investment in the roads programme was considered in the modelling scenarios undertaken. A refresh of those modelling scenarios is under way again this year as part of the development of climate action plan 2026 and will again include analysis of the roads programme. The Deputy will no doubt acknowledge that investment in our roads programme promotes regional accessibility, facilitates economic competitiveness, supports a town centres first approach and improves road safety. Our ongoing efforts to decarbonise the vehicles using the roads network is an important focus over the short to medium term. Significant investment is under way to accelerate the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure across the network.
Sentiment score: 0.18
There is a balance to be struck here. I am glad the Deputy mentioned the CCAC and IFAC contribution today which I very much welcome. It does show the challenge in a growing economy. Thankfully we have full employment. Deputy Pa Daly already mentioned his view that there are infrastructural deficits and there are as well. We need to build more roads and we need more investment in rail. We will do that with the refresh of the NDP but the climate action plan is central to all of that. In the past two years we have seen a reduction in emissions of about 6.6% last year even while the economy was growing. That is a really important tipping point. The targets are exacting by 2030. On EVs and EV grants, I will look specifically at them and review them to see if they can be improved. I think they can but we have only commenced that work. Charging infrastructure is really important. I will be making announcements in the coming weeks to roll out additional charging infrastructure. I might return to the active travel question the Deputy raised in another supplementary.
Sentiment score: 0.21
The Deputy mentioned a number of things. On active travel, earlier this year he will have seen the NTA announcements, with very significant funding. Tomorrow, I will announce additional funding for greenways, improving the permeability between towns and villages. This is a successful programme and we want to expand it, and that is embraced by communities too. In respect of EVs, I am not just going to review the grants; I intend to improve them. We have not concluded the work on that. The Deputy will have seen that in the past two weeks, we have announced the EV taxi grants, which have been fully subscribed, and we can continue to change our public fleet, including our buses and bus network, across the board. We have also announced the first electric motorbike grant, in which, again, there has been a lot of interest. There is much we can do on the transport side while we are still building new roads, which we need to do too. We have just had a brief discussion on the Adare bypass, and anyone in that region around Limerick and the south west will understand the importance of that piece of road infrastructure as well.
Sentiment score: 0.41
I am aware of that. I am also aware the Deputy's party has opposed every action we have taken in respect of climate, whether through our climate budgets or the climate action plan. That is a policy position it has, but I think we all understand the need for us to reduce emissions to improve how people travel. The Deputy's question relates specifically to electric vehicles and making them more accessible to rural motorists, something with which I agree. Rural motorists are often in an advantageous position to switch to using an electric vehicle due to the large number of dwellings in rural Ireland that are suitable for EV charging. We have had issues, as the Deputy will know, in multi-unit developments with the provision of charging points, which needs to be looked at, but home charging means lower running costs and many EVs are now capable of reaching more than 400 km in a single charge, which will meet most people's daily driving needs. The public charging network has grown in recent years and the new programme for Government includes further significant expansion and modernisation of the EV charging network in order that drivers can use EVs with confidence and certainty. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is leading on the delivery of charging infrastructure along our motorways and national primary and secondary routes. We have launched three grant aid programmes for the delivery of significant, high-powered charging infrastructure on these roads. These are all for delivery in the next 12 months. Last week, I announced a third scheme that is focused on installing high-powered recharging stations along 3,000 km of national primary and secondary roads. This will ensure EV drivers have reliable access to charging points throughout the country. Furthermore, of significant relevance to rural motorists is the regional and local EV network plan. I will publish the final version of this plan, following extensive consultation and engagement with local authorities, in the coming weeks. The plan describes how local authorities will facilitate the provision of local charging networks.
Sentiment score: 0.35
As I was saying, the regional and local EV network plan is very important. Departmental officials have been engaging actively with local authorities to develop their own regional charging plans. We are now looking at ranges averaging 400 km, which will cover most daily driving. Most EV charging happens at home. Nevertheless, I agree that we need to improve the EV charging infrastructure throughout the country, and this strategy will focus in particular on our regional areas. I can also confirm that in line with the programme for Government, a new EV infrastructure strategy will be developed this year, covering 2026 onwards. A key consideration in that will be addressing the specific EV challenges of rural communities, which I acknowledge. Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland, ZEVI, offers a generous suite of financial supports to drivers for the transition to electric vehicles, including a purchase grant for battery electric vehicles, a home charger purchase grant, vehicle registration tax, VRT, relief of up to €5,000 and a low rate of annual motor tax.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I have just told the Deputy what we are doing, and I did not say that what has happened up to now is unacceptable. I said we need to do more. Anyone will understand that when you are bringing in new infrastructure such as this, you are not going to do it in a year. That is obvious. You have a plan but you also have to know how to pay for it, and I have highlighted the contradiction in the stance of the Deputy's party in respect of investing in areas such as this. It opposed carbon tax. We want to increase grants-----
Sentiment score: 0.09
I will leave that as it is. People will make up their own minds about it. Let us look at the facts. In 2020, the number of available charging points was about 1,700. It was 2,400 as of January 2024, and that will increase further this year, although I do not yet have those numbers. I am very serious about improving the infrastructure throughout the country. We will do that and we are concluding the consultation with the local authorities to identify where. We are serious about doing it and we will do it.
Sentiment score: 0.08
The vast majority of public service obligation bus services are provided by State operators through what are known as direct award contracts. Remaining routes are run by operators awarded a contract following a competitive tendering process. Sometimes those routes are operated by a State operator and sometimes they are operated by a private operator. This mix of contract award processes is in accordance with the relevant EU and Irish regulatory frameworks. 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 and performance reports are available to view on the NTA’s website. I reassure the Deputy that the NTA uses all the contractual and regulatory powers available to it to measure, report on and seek to maintain and improve standards across all PSO public transport services. Further, in instances where performance drops, such as those we saw recently on certain routes, financial penalties are rigorously applied unless the cause of the loss of performance is outside of the control of the operator. I recently met NTA representatives specifically on this matter because not only do I want the NTA to focus on the bus operators but I want the bus operators to focus on customer service and certainty as best as possible so that people know that if a bus is scheduled, it will turn up. Everybody understands there may be the odd instance where that does not happen but on certain routes we have seen that with too great a frequency. The NTA is carrying out a specific review of those incidents over the past few weeks, at my request, and will report directly back to me. In the instances we are aware of, the issue was due to a shortage of mechanics and the knock-on impact that had on fleet availability. That led to the recent issues on the newly launched phase 6a of BusConnects. We do not want to see this happening. We want more people to use public transport and, thankfully, they do. There were 330 million journeys made on public transport last year, so the figure is increasing and people are responding. The bus network is now better but we need to ensure the service is there to back it up.
Sentiment score: 0.30
The Deputy has the answer, in that a very severe fine was levied. Public transport is not disimproving. We need to ensure punctuality. We have a growing population. There are developments all over the country that need to be serviced by the bus network. This year, €658 million has been provided for the PSO, up from €613 million the year before. We have seen a significant reduction in public transport fares. I will extend free fares to five- to eight-year-olds, a measure brought forward by the previous Minister. We will also look at how we can further improve the offering. People are responding. There were record passenger numbers last year and this year we must work hard to ensure they increase further. There were issues with that particular operator on certain routes. I raised those issues publicly and met representatives of the NTA. The Deputy said the contract should not have been awarded. Should the NTA cancel a contract on an existing service? What impact would that have on the road users or bus users in the area in question?
Sentiment score: 0.12
There were issues on certain routes in the past few weeks and I publicly stated they were not acceptable. I use this opportunity to restate to bus operators that paying customers - all customers indeed because many do not have to pay now due to the expansion of free travel - expect a reliable services. In many instances, that is exactly what they get. We will continue the investment in our bus fleet throughout the country, in our cities and regions and in rural transport as well. We will continue the investment in our rail network. We are seeing very significant investment and we will see further improvements in that this year and next. The national development plan review provides an opportunity to invest further capital in significant transport infrastructure to improve the lot of customers and users of public transport. We want people to use public transport. It is good for many reasons and we are seeing significant increases in passenger numbers across all modes of public transport.
Sentiment score: 0.33