Speech by Pat the Cope Gallagher TD, Minister of State for Transport at the Transportation Conference 'Roads to Opportunity'

Date: 19 June 2006

Introduction

I am delighted to be addressing you here today - at a time when our investment in the national road network is at an all time high. Our quality of life is bound up with transport. For family, social, educational, work and business reasons, we all have a need to travel. This Government is committed to putting in place a high quality transport infrastructure that matches our status as one of the most dynamic economies in the world over recent years.

Vision for an all-island economy

The two Governments have made it clear that we recognise the significant mutual benefits of working together on an all-island basis. We have already been working hard with our Northern colleagues to advance projects that deliver concrete results for our citizens such as the all-island electricity market and the all-island free travel scheme.

The two Governments have put a particular focus on infrastructure co-operation. We recognise that we are at a critical point in infrastructure investment on the island and that it makes sense to co-operate to deliver the most effective infrastructure for the island. The Irish Government is very serious about this. That is why in our new National Development Plan, setting out a blueprint for investment for the 7 year period 2007 to 2013, will have a strong all-island dimension. In preparing proposals for the new NDP, Government Departments have been instructed to treat the all-island dimension as one of the man strategic horizontal themes of the Plan. We need to assess critically our transport needs on an all-island basis so that we provide the most efficient and cost effective transport infrastructure for the island.

Transport 21

Transport 21 is the Government's capital investment programme for transport infrastructure investment for the next ten years. With a budget of €34.4billion, Transport 21 is the largest infrastructural programme ever undertaken in this State. It means €9.4million invested in transport every day for the next 10 years. The goal of Transport 21 is to provide Ireland with a first class transport system that, on a national level, connects all regions to each other and to our main seaports and airports, and, in the cities, will provide greatly enhanced public transport alternatives to the private car.

The development of the Atlantic Road Corridor from Letterkenny to Waterford has been a long standing concept in the national roads upgrade programme and has now been re-enforced by Transport 21. It is envisaged that the route will be upgraded substantially to dual carriageway and 2+1 road standard.

North West Region

Balanced regional development, here in the North-West and all the regions, is an economic and political imperative. If Ireland is to continue to have a prosperous future and, critically, one in which quality of life is enhanced, we cannot allow a situation to persist where growth is skewed towards one particular region. It is in nobody's best interests that Dublin continues to act as a pool into which the country's resources and people are almost hypnotically drawn. We are working with the Northern Ireland administration to develop an active partnership between North and South to address the challenges facing the North West in a comprehensive and sustained way.

Our vision includes:

· local authorities from both sides of the border working together, with the full support of the administrations in Dublin and Belfast, on integrated spatial planning and development with a regional perspective

· excellent transport infrastructure, with improved inter-urban road linkages to Dublin and Belfast and national and international air links from City of Derry and Carrickfinn airports

· agencies from North and South, as well as the North/South bodies, working together in key areas such trade and investment promotion, tourism, skills/training, education, innovation and business development.

National Road Projects

The N2 National Primary Route which is the main arterial route from Dublin to Derry, Donegal and the northwest is currently the subject of major investment. The Ashbourne Bypass which has recently been completed, the Carrickmacross Bypass - opened to traffic in 2005 - the Monaghan Bypass which is schedule to open later in 2006 and the Castleblayney Bypass in construction will ensure that the N2 is a high quality route to and from the Border and North West region. The improvements completed and underway on the N2 together with the upgraded M1 will ensure a high level of service to all those who traverse the region to and from Donegal, Derry and Dublin.

I was delighted to officially open the Ballyshannon/Bundoran Bypass at the end of April. This Bypass is complemented with the opening of the N4 Sligo Inner Relief Road in September last year. I am also confident that the N15 Ballybofey/Stranorlar Bypass will be progressed during the coming months.

It is indicative of the effort being made countrywide to improve the internal road transport infrastructure between regions and within regions, to contribute to the competitiveness of the productive sector and to the achievement of balanced regional development.

North/South Co-operation

I am glad to note that the upgrade works completed and in construction on the N2 are being matched by improvement works on the A5 in Northern Ireland. This kind of complementarity will maximise the beneficial impact of the upgrade projects in both jurisdictions.

I am aware of the close co-operation between my Department, the NRA and our counterparts in Northern Ireland in the context of the Cross Border Road Steering Group. While the main role of the group is to monitor the Newry/Dundalk project, it also provides a forum to exchange information on broader road upgrade programmes.

In addition to the projects already mentioned above, the NRA and the NI Roads Service, at the request of their parent Departments', are working together to look at the possibilities for improving the Dublin/Derry and Derry/Belfast routes. That work will provide a basis for further discussion and debate.

INTERREG

A number of other joint North/South road projects have been funded, or are currently being funded, by the EU under the Interreg Programme including the realignment of N54/A3, feasibility study for Ballynacarry Bridge (N53/A37), and the completion of the statutory procedures (CPO/EIS) and design of the N14/A5 Lifford/Strabane scheme.

Conclusion

As already stated, the Government is now allocating an unprecedented amount of resources to transport - we are at an exciting juncture in the history of our transport infrastructure. I would like to thank the organisers of this conference for giving me the opportunity not only to speak here but to get at first hand the views of local representatives and organisations. It is essential to have full engagement at local level if the infrastructural and other initiatives now being considered by the two Governments for this region are to reach their full potential.

Thank you