Opposition parties called on the Government to put its Transport 21programme back on schedule after it emerged that numerous road, rail and motorway projects are delayed by up to two years.
Delivery deadlines for 11 major projects, including the M50 upgrade and Metro North have been put back, some by as much as two years. The dates have been altered on Department of Transport funded websites without any explanation of the discrepancy.
Almost a third of the 39 key road, rail and motorway projects announced in Transport 21have been delayed and their delivery dates on Department of Transport funded websites have been altered, The Irish Timesreported today.
Labour Party environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore called for an "immediate statement" by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.
Mr Gilmore said the Government had a "very poor record" of delivering major infrastructure projects on time and in budget, citing the Port Tunnel and Luas delays as examples.
"Major projects like the Port Tunnel and Luas turned out to be far more expensive than we were originally told and came in well after the promised date. Based on the details published today, it seems that the Government has not learned any lessons and the situation is as bad as ever," he said.
A comparison by the Irish Timesof timetables published at the launch of Transport 21 and those issued recently shows the department initially giving 2007 as the deadline for completion of phase one of the M50 upgrade - the current works between Ballymount and the Lucan junctions. Last week, however, the Department's Transport 21site gave 2008 as the deadline, as did the project website.
Mr Gilmore said delays in these projects would add significantly to the cost of them, and would cause "serious inconvenience" to those commuters most in need of the infrastructure improvements.
"Minister Dempsey must now tell us exactly what steps he intends to take to get these projects back on schedule. It is also essential that the public should now be given full costings for all the individual projects set out in Transport 21," he added.
Fine Gael has also criticised the discrepancy and said the delays demonstrated "the mess Fianna Fáil has made of major projects in the State and the clear result of uncosted, unrealistic plans".
Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar said the Government announced Transport 21plans 18 months ago without cost-benefit analysis, detailed costings and with a "a completely unrealistic timetable".
"Delays such as these will inevitably lead to a rise in costs. As costs rise, the danger of further delays arises as does, in extreme cases, the threat of certain projects being abandoned," Mr Varadkar said.
"Fianna Fáil's pre-election propensity to bring out uncosted, unrealistic plans has a clear result, the suffering of commuters and the public at large. It now seems that all the while Fianna Fáil were more concerned with delivering themselves back into government rather than delivering the travelling public to their destination on time."