Transport plan - Blueprint has potential to deliver

Ambitious though the Government’s latest transportation blueprint costing €34.4 billion may seem to be, it is not being merely pedantic to point out that that is just what it is at the moment - a blueprint.

It must also be said that this latest multi-billion transport plan is also a compendium of projects previously announced together with some new ones.

Cynics might also aver that the announcement was strategically timed, having in its sights the next general election which is looming ever nearer.

The presence of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tánaiste Mary Harney and Finance Minister Brian Cowen, was intended to lend gravitas to the announcement by Transport Minister Martin Cullen, who is synonymous with the inglorious electronic voting debacle which cost the taxpayers over €50 million.

Designated as Transport 21, it is a national plan which has the capacity to literally change the transport landscape of the country with accruing benefits to the economy.

It has plans for an integrated transport system for Dublin to include seven new LUAS projects, two Metro lines, DART extensions and an underground station at St Stephen’s Green, integrating all services.

On the other hand, while new commuter rail services are planned for the cities of Cork and Galway, nationally the rail service will be improved and notably the western rail corridor will be reopened.

As well, the Atlantic Corridor, a road that will eventually stretch from Donegal to Waterford, via Galway, Limerick and Cork, will prove to be a major boon especially for the west of Ireland.

Undoubtedly, the transport infrastructure nationally, both road and rail, is in dire need of a major overhaul and, on the drawing board at least, Transport 21 has the potential to deliver.

It does, after all, represent the single biggest investment ever contemplated in the State, with the Government investing €26bn and public/private partnerships rendering the balance of the funding.

The Taoiseach was quite correct when he said yesterday that, on transport, the country had to move from far behind to the lead and this plan was designed to achieve that objective and deliver benefits in every part of the country.

It is a sentiment that nobody could disagree with, either business or commercial interests, nor the communities who currently feel isolated because of the lack of infrastructure.

But it is a long-term plan, with a gestation period of 10 years, and it is understandable if people are inclined to be sceptical of Government assurances on budgetary restraints and rigorous delivery schedules.

This administration has an appalling, and controversial, record on both counts illustrated by flagrant waste of public money which could have been spent in urgent and critical areas.

The early years of the Government’s six-year National Development Plan, which began in 2000, saw the roads programme rise in cost from an estimated €7bn to an incredible €16bn.

Earlier this year, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee wrapped the knuckles of the National Roads Authority, as well as the Departments of Finance and Transport, for underestimating the cost of various projects, in many cases by tens of millions of euro.

The scale of the transport plan is audacious and the €9.4m to be spent on transport every day for the next decade, according to the Taoiseach, has the potential to gradually transform this country, if the strict financial and budgetary criteria are adhered to.