I welcome Transport Minister Noel Dempsey’s positive comments after his meeting with the European Investment Bank on financing for critical transport infrastructure projects including Metro North and the Dublin Rail Interconnector. In the past I have noted that Minister Dempsey has supported several key Transport 21 infrastructure projects often in the face of opposition from the Minister for Finance and Green Ministers.

However, the Minister must now clarify his position on further cutbacks to vital transport projects. Minister Dempsey was quoted during the week as finding the proposals on transport in the McCarthy Report as "baffling." In particular, the Minister questioned proposals to cut funding for CIE by another €55 million given the savage cutbacks that the Minister has already overseen to Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus. The Minister also highlighted the proposal to reduce the road maintenance budget by another €20 million.

In the transport sector the McCarthy Report also proposed halting the Western Rail Corridor project, selling off profitable elements of Bus Eireann, ending all Rural Transport programmes and Public Service Obligation grants to regional airports and axing rail routes including Limerick Junction to Rosslare, Limerick to Ballybrophy and Manulla Junction to Ballina. Given the impact that cuts of this magnitude would have (particularly on rural communities), Minister Dempsey must now urgently clarify his comments on this matter.