Results 1-20 of 29,328 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Road Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I absolutely agree with Deputies Smith and O'Sullivan. Investment in maintaining our roads is our first priority and the best investment because, as the Deputy has said, if you let them go, it costs much more to restore them. There are also great safety and other benefits to properly surfaced and dressed roads. Funding for road maintenance has increased by 20% over the last four years, the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Road Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That is true but there was an increase in the budget. Last year, Cavan got a budget of €18.14 million, an increase of €629,000 on the previous year. Monaghan got some €17 million, an increase of €834,000 on the previous year. I have met the officials and engineers in the county councils in Monaghan and Cavan and they do a very good job. They are highly...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Road Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I understand that. The area also has a very dispersed and wide network of roads but so do other counties. Cork is a good example. To answer Deputy O'Sullivan's question, we are working with Cork County Council to provide the funding it needs for the roads that were affected by the flooding in Glanmire and Midleton. The resources are somewhat constrained by how quickly the council can...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Road Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I assure the Deputy that we will do everything we can. In honesty, the budget available to us is limited but we will try to reallocate any funding we can garner from other areas. The Deputy is right about the increase in costs. The increase in the cost of bitumen and other materials was very significant. It gives us a certain hope that those inflationary impacts are starting to reduce....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rail Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I do not have an answer to the Deputy's question as to the survey work that was done. There are sections on the line from Claremorris to Athenry that will require some reasonably significant civil works. For example, roads have been built across the line in the intervening period. However, these issues can be overcome. I cannot recall the exact period in which the section from Claremorris...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rail Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: If that is not the case, it is all the better for us if we are to deliver a greenway on the line. The benefit of this is that it would preserve the line in public ownership. It is not included in the strategic rail review and the introduction of a greenway would not be hindered. If held in public ownership into the future, that line provides a potentially very beneficial future asset....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rail Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I do not believe that only the quality of the line was considered. There are so many different investment requirements that there has to be some prioritisation. If the line is, as the Deputy said, still intact and in public ownership, that would help and for it to be maintained in that way is the first priority.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Éireann (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Deputy for highlighting one of the biggest ongoing challenges facing the public transport sector. I confirm that my Department continues to engage extensively with the NTA and operators on this issue. Unfortunately, it is the case that many operators, both public and private, continue to experience difficulties in recruiting new drivers. In its attempts to attract new...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Éireann (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will make a wider point that Bus Éireann has a real challenge, as all our bus companies do, in getting drivers. This is across public and private services in every part of the country. Bus Éireann, however, is proving to be incredibly successful at present. I remember meeting Mr. Kent a year or two ago, when he said we might get up to 100 million passenger journeys last year....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Éireann (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with Deputy O'Sullivan. I will add that it is not just about a driver shortage. We are also short of mechanics. In Cork, there are ten or 12 vacancies in mechanic positions at present. If the bus is not maintained, then it cannot run. Irish passengers value and are attracted to their bus services. Passenger numbers on Bus Éireann PSO services went up by 27% last year. That...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Éireann (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We will look at that in detail.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Road Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I fully support the commitment in the programme for Government to maintain the existing road network to a high standard and to fund safety improvements. That being said, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, each local authority has statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of its regional and local road network. Works on regional and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Regional Development (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will give the Deputy one example, because she talks about big projects. From memory, the Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge road, not by act of nature, is a single carriageway of approximately 35 km. It is costing the guts of half a billion euro and pretty much a doubling of the previous contract, which, unfortunately, was not able to be concluded because the contractor went out of business. If...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Park-and-Ride Facilities (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The NTA is leading the development and roll-out of strategic park and ride nationwide through its park and ride development office. The NTA established the park and ride development office in February 2020 and it has been included in the climate action plan since 2019. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Park-and-Ride Facilities (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will go into some of the detail that I have been informed of by the NTA on those three sites. First, in regard to the N6 at junction 19, a 550-space site, the site selection process has led to two emerging site options at this junction. It looks now likely that a compulsory purchase order may be required irrespective of which site is selected. Following a finalisation of the site...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Park-and-Ride Facilities (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I am sorry about this. I will finish, if I can. On site 3, the one the Deputy specifically asks about, the discussions are ongoing with Galway City Council in relation to a potential site along the Cappagh Road on the western side of the city. It is understood that lands in public ownership may be available in the vicinity of this location. Discussions are advancing to investigate the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Park-and-Ride Facilities (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: First, I agree with the Deputy. I have a concern that the waiting for a Galway outer bypass may have seen the authorities not put push the delivery of the public transport and active travel solutions which, I believe, will be critical to turning around Galway's transport difficulties and providing a system that works. The site the Deputy mentions in the west is, to my mind, a particular...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rail Network (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will try to give Deputies Martin Kenny and Ó Cuív the same clarity I gave to Deputy Harkin earlier. The rail review does not propose the reintroduction of the line to Collooney. I believe in those contexts it is better to keep the line as a greenway. This is a 30-year investment timeline. To answer Deputy Ó Cuív's question about the inflation aspect, we must think...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Regional Development (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to improving transport infrastructure throughout the country, but most especially in the northern and western region. That commitment is evidenced by actual delivery of projects on the ground. The index referred to by the Deputy measures a much wider range of indicators than just infrastructure and, on the basis of the complete index,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Regional Development (16 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: First, there was a huge expansion in our capital ambition, in particular in regard to investments in transport for which I have responsibility in the NDP. We got an allocation of €35 billion which I think actually exceeds the allocation for housing. Two Departments were prioritised by the Government. One was housing and the other, on the capital side, was the transport sector....