Infrastructure: A dramatic increase in spending on public transport has been signalled in the Estimates, which provide for substantial funding for a range of infrastructure projects.
At almost €6 billion between them, the Estimates for the departments of Environment and Transport reflect the huge cost of the Government's infrastructure commitments.
The Department of Transport will receive an increase in its budget of €415 million to €2.778 billion, up 18 per cent, reflecting major investment in public transport under the Transport 21 investment programme.
The department - already requiring almost €1.5 billion per year to meet the national roads programme - is set to invest an additional €777 million in public transport in 2007.
While this money is well-flagged in Transport 21, campaign groups across the State are anxiously awaiting further details from Minister for Transport Martin Cullen this morning to ascertain whether projects such as the Shannon rail link and the Navan rail line are included.
Some €28 million is to be provided for support for regional airports, while the rural transport initiative is moving from a pilot programme to a mainstream project, and €9 million is being set aside for that. A sum of €10 million is being provided to the Road Safety Authority to deal with the driver test backlog.
Similarly at environment, the increase to €2.870 billion - up €173 million or 6 per cent - reflects the need for spending on housing, water and waste water services and rapidly deteriorating non-national roads.
The total exchequer provision for housing in 2007 is almost €1.5 billion - an increase of €125 million on this year. The increased level of funding is in line with the housing commitments contained in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016. It will allow for more than 6,600 local authority homes to be started/ acquired while voluntary or co-operative schemes will provide another 2,000, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said yesterday.
Work will also continue on the redevelopment of Ballymun - some 950 families have been rehoused under the Ballymun Regeneration Programme.
The water services provision of €426.7 million represents an increase of 7 per cent on the 2006 provision of €399 million. The exchequer contribution to the Local Government Fund next year will amount to €527 million. This rise of just 2 per cent has angered Chambers Ireland whose members support local authorities through rates payments.
Funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also been significantly increased by €7.6 million to €23.3 million. The Construction Industry Federation welcomed the Government's commitment to increased investment in public infrastructure.
However opposition politicians were less than enthusiastic. "Last year, Minister Cullen announced funding for the Luas extension to Cherrywood, the Kildare Route project, the Docklands station, the Cork commuter service, the Portlaoise train care depot, and the increase in Luas red line capacity of 40 per cent. He started the Docklands station and Portlaoise depot but not the others," said Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell.
