2026-07-07

13. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the progress made to date under NSO No. 4 of the National Development Plan 2021-2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51359/26]

Question No. 13 is in the name of Deputy Ó Fearghaíl but will be asked by Deputy Shane Moynihan.

This question is on the progress to date on delivering NSO No. 4, which relates to sustainable transport and mobility.

I will not tell the Deputy again about how I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations, as outlined in the reply in front of me. I will proceed instead to address the question itself, which is about NSO No. 4. This objective is about investing in high-quality sustainable transport and mobility to improve quality of life for all our citizens, support our transition to a low-carbon society and enhance our economic competitiveness. The Department of Transport published the national investment framework for transport in Ireland, NIFTI, in 2021, which sets out the prioritisation for future investment in the land transport network. The right transport investment helps to deliver high-quality travel and supports positive outcomes for society, the environment and the economy. Investment in NSO No. 4 projects set out in Project Ireland 2040 include the DART+ programme, which is a series of projects that will create a full metropolitan area DART+ network for Dublin, with all the lines linked and connected. An Coimisiún Pleanála has approved the railway order application for DART+ Coastal North. The procurement process has commenced for a design and build contractors. Once the contractors have been appointed, a period of detailed design will commence followed by construction. Since the previous NDP, there has been significant progress on MetroLink, including most recently the positive planning decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála, as well as the NDP’s allocation of €2 billion from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to ensure MetroLink moves forward to construction within the lifetime of this NDP. BusConnects is an investment programme designed to fundamentally transform the bus systems in our major cities, so that journeys for passengers by bus will be fast, reliable, punctual, convenient and affordable. There are 12 bus corridor applications for Dublin and construction on the first of these routes from Liffey Valley to the city centre has commenced with a completion date of 2028. The National Transport Authority is in the process of developing cycling plans for each county under the CycleConnects plan. Further details of projects and programmes being delivered under NSO 4 are with an estimated cost of greater than €20 million are published on the investment tracker.

I thank the Minister. It is right to say that huge progress is being seen on delivery of transport infrastructure across the country. The Liffey Valley to city centre bus corridor that he mentioned is the route I cycle to Leinster House most days. I see the active progress there. I am hopeful that it will be delivered on time, if not ahead of schedule. Like the Minister, I am a TD for a Dublin constituency where population density is increasing at a rapid pace, and rightly so and it is important that we provide housing for our people but it also important that we provide the transport system to underpin that. Progress on MetroLink is very welcome. The DART+ programme is very close to my heart. I have engaged with the Minister and the Minister for Transport in particular on this. It would be remiss of me with this opportunity not to advocate for the DART+ South West programme to be accelerated as much as it can. I am very pleased to see DART+ Coastal North and DART+ West will be moved along quite promptly. DART+ South West is particularly important, given the amount of housing now being delivered in Clonburris and Adamstown, in particular.

I appreciate the Deputy's advocacy and input on the DART+ and DART+ South West programmes. We want to deliver many of these projects over the next number of years. That is why the continued uplift of transport investment is essential. On a positive note, we are seeing many of these projects move out of the planning system now to allow us to move to procurement for BusConnects and DART+. The Deputy referenced the importance of delivering this low-carbon transport in terms of housing supply and ensuring that a lot of the homes that are planned for some of the DART+ lines are built in line with our wider public transport investment. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is managing the annualised allocations from a transport perspective. He is working with the NTA to maximise that investment opportunity and deliver as much as possible across the NDP.

That is right. We are on the same page regarding the need to put these public transport systems in place as the houses are being built so that the private car is not the default option for a lot of these people moving into these homes. That is why I am keen to continue to lobby the NTA. I am pleased that it has opened a consultation on new bus routes for Clonburris and Adamstown. Those developments were not built at the design of the original BusConnects phase. That is somewhere we need to address. There are many other developments like that not only in Dublin, but around the country, where bus stops need to be put in and routes at the same time, as opposed to waiting for the demand to manifest itself. We know the demand will be there. We know people will move into those homes. From day one, let us give them an option of public transport. That may not necessarily be a heavy rail system like DART+ South West, though I am hopeful we will be able to move quickly on that. It is important that we put the bus services in place. I hope the Minister will support me and other colleagues in lobbying the NTA to move quite quickly in delivering amendments to the BusConnects plan that enhance additionality and respond to the new population settlements forming in Dublin and around the country.

I agree. BusConnects should continue to evolve, particularly with increased development in parts of west Dublin and elsewhere. It should future-proof development as it is occurring. I support the Deputy on that. The NTA needs to be developing that real-time adjustment to BusConnects so that we future-proof our bus system for residential development, which is being built out in certain areas. The NTA needs to prioritise that. We should not leave any new community islanded without bus connectivity. BusConnects needs to advance in parallel with the wider development. I have seen certain issues in my own constituency where people do not have the level of connectivity I believe they should have in certain parts of it and maybe in terms of frequency and reliability. That is a shared objective across our two constituencies.