"Ring-fenced" funds for T21

strassenwolf

Today's Sunday Business Post wrote:

Government projects to be halted by major spending review
15 June 2008 By Ian Kehoe, Chief News Correspondent
The government is conducting a major spending review, which is expected to lead to a significant number of capital projects being stalled, postponed or scaled back.

The Department of Finance is conducting the review in light of the overall economic slump and the decline in the government tax take. All areas of government expenditure are being reviewed as part of the process, although a particular emphasis is being placed on capital spending in education and health, which accounts for large elements of government expenditure.

The government is also set to rein in general expenditure, with the secretaries general of government departments asked in recent days to provide detailed reports on where they can cut back on day-to-day spending.

Details of the cutbacks will be outlined by the government in the coming months. Finance minister Brian Lenihan will use the annual pre-budget outlook in the autumn as a platform to announce a tightening of government expenditure, according to government sources.

The minister will also use the pre-budget outlook to revise downwards the government’s macro-economic and fiscal forecasts for the year ahead.

Lenihan has met his cabinet colleagues in recent weeks to discuss various capital programmes provided for in the annual estimates.

The minister warned his colleagues about the need for fiscal prudence over the coming year.

Although the government remains committed to the National Development Plan and the Transport 21 scheme, senior government officials believe a number of major projects may be delayed or scaled back.

Coupled with declining revenues, the government is acutely aware of the increased burden of meeting social welfare payments.

The live register figures for May show that, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the numbers signing on have increased by 35,700 - or 20.8 per cent - since the start of the year.

http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=nav-qqqid=33748-qqqx=1.asp

I don't like the sound of this.

Despite Martin Cullen's assurances that the money for Transport 21 was "ring-fenced", it seems that it may not be so well protected.

(And yes, I do know that the most sensible approach is generally to take most of what Minister Cullen says with a pinch of salt), but the next few months should give us an idea of how "ring-fenced" some "ring-fenced money" actually is.

HydeRoad

The only thing 'ring-fenced' in this government is Fianna Fáil and it's band of advisors and general hangers-on.

markpb

Anyone who has ever watched 'Yes, Minister' will know exactly how effective the department cut backs will be - lots of reports, a few consultants and eventually the expenditure will be transferred to a semi state or quango where it won't show up on the departments accounts

Also, the whole ring fenced thing smelled like bull **** as soon as it came out of his mouth - public transport never was and probably never will be a priority for Fianna Fail.

AlekSmart

Can there be anyone who ever fully subscribed to all of the T21 hoohah...?
The very idea of some vast €34 Billion chest of funds being available for Transport alone was always a dodgy concept

However,modern Ireland is a very vapourous place where a significant number of it`s citizens have taken to believing the hype thats spewed forth at them 24/7/365 by self aggrandising snake-oil merchants and their syncophantic civil servants

In purely financial terms the writing has been on the wall since Maastricht and our Governments decisions to bind the Country and its people to the tightest definintion of the various EU dictats.

Thus we see even the Liberal elite now starting to blanch at the amount of money which the State is sending throughout the other EU states in regard to the offspring of immigrant folks working here.
Now that many of those working immigrants are becoming unemployed themselves we suddenly have become aware of a gigantic pink elephant sitting in the corner of our scullery,and it`s beginning to smell !!

Additionally we have rather uniquely Irish open-ended "Schemes" which allowed otherwise fit and healthy individuals to combine Lone Parent Benefit and Jobseekers Benefit with something called the Private Rented Accomodation allowance and thus arrive at a sum which allows a very comfortable standard of living indeed,even allowing room for full time businesses to be run and foreign holidays to be taken !!

All incredible stuff,but not a problem as long as the wheels were still on the wagon.

Now however,thanks to the outside world,and particularly the US driven Oil Price "Crisis" our wee wagon has not only lost it`s wheels but the axles have split along the centre line as well.

Even after decades of EU cash inflow,we have precious little to show in terms of the ability to sustain a credible economic foundation...we don`t have one.

Even the oul reliable of the "Friendly Irish" tourism industry has lain down to die as we realize at last that modern Ireland has little about it to attract any ordinary American,much less a discerning and value conscious European traveller.

My belief is that at least 25% of the proposed T21 project allocation will be unavailable and the remainder will be restructured to drag out the projects well into Q2 of the 21st Century.

In the meantime the areas,such as the Bus Service which could provide seriously improved services with minimal outlay remain stagnant as supposedly top-notch Civil Servants remain totally incapable of individual thinking let alone decision making.
Yet it remains true that many of these same high ranking Civil Servants have availed themselves of MASSIVE salary increases in the run up to our recession...talk about self-insurance

The only positive aspect is that we may eventually get to see the National Development Plan`s (2000-2006) outstanding elements finally finished....or maybe not :eek:

invincibleirish

10 years too late, the huge waste of money projects in Transport have already being built or are under construction.

The projects that will suffer from lack of funding will be the much needed ones, the political pet projects have been either delivered or will be ring fenced, no matter what.

Hows the Tullamore bypass coming along?

DWCommuter

Ive always been in the negative camp on this T21 baloney. However I won't say "I told you so" until the interconnector and navan are shafted. Although due to the "politicising" of Navan earlier this year, don't be surprised if it gets built at the expense of something else that it may rely on to actually work.

strassenwolf

More from the Business Post about those "ring-fenced" funds. The journalist, Dick O'Brien, has already dropped the interconnector.

The Sunday Business Post, August 3rd 2008 wrote:

Transport 21 projects may be derailed by cuts
03 August 2008
By Dick O’Brien

With a total budget of €34 billion, Transport 21, the major upgrade of the state’s infrastructure, is expected to become a target for cuts.

Discussions are already underway in government about which projects should be postponed, given the shortage of exchequer cash.

While the axe has not fallen yet, finance minister Brian Lenihan triggered speculation about the future of a key element of the scheme, Metro North, when he last week declined to confirm that construction of the rail line would go ahead.

Lenihan told a meeting of Dublin business people that all infrastructural projects would have to prove their value for money before they received the green light from the government.

Last week, a spokesman for the Rail Procurement Agency (RPA) said it had received no indication that the project was likely to be postponed and that planning was already at an advanced stage.

The RPA is nearing completion of a Rail Order for the project, which will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála in early September.

Simultaneously, it is also working through the tendering process with the four preferred bidders and the deadline for receipt of final tenders will be in early November.

However, it is understood that serious misgivings remain in the Department of Finance about the level of expenditure involved and the lack of a convincing cost-benefit analysis to support the plan.

With tensions emerging between Lenihan and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey on the future of the project, sources believe that a decision to postpone the project remains possible, though much will depend on the negotiations now getting under way on the government’s budget for 2009.

A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation believed that it would disastrous at this stage if the government were to pull the plug on Metro North, given the advanced state of the project.

He said it would destroy Ireland’s reputation for public-private partnerships and deter many likely contractors from bidding on future projects.

Officials in the Department of Transport said that, at present, all elements of Transport 21 were going ahead as scheduled.

While the department has been asked to look at curtailing its capital expenditure given the economic climate, it was still capable of delivering Transport 21 on schedule despite the squeeze on spending.

However, it was stressed that the department had no control over decisions taken at cabinet level and that further cutbacks in spending could be demanded once next year’s Budget is finalised. Sources now believe that with a major squeeze on exchequer cash, postponements of major projects are inevitable.

Due for completion in 2013, Metro North is one of two suburban rail lines due to be built as part of Transport 21. The second, Metro West, is scheduled for completion in 2014 and is at a less advantaged stage of development.

A preferred route for the line was selected last year, that would see it join Tallaght, Clondalkin and Blanchardstown before connecting with Metro North. This Metro West project now looks very likely to be put on hold.

Other Transport 21 projects include the extension of existing Luas lines and construction of a completely new line to Lucan. Work has already begun on the extension of the Tallaght line to the Dublin Docklands and this is slated for completion next year.

Development work has also started on the extension of the Sandyford line to Cherrywood and this should be finished by 2010 - much of this is being funded by local property interests.

A further extension of this line to Bray is scheduled for completion in 2015.

Other Luas projects are at a less advanced stage. A spur of the Tallaght line to City West is also slated for 2010 and a Railway Order was granted by An Bord Pleanála, which will come into force during August.

The new Lucan line, meanwhile, is scheduled for 2013 and a consultation process about the route is ongoing.

Only oneLuas project has been stalled to date, the proposed linking of the two existing lines between St Stephen’s Green and the Liffey following a decision not to undertake work on it, while Metro North was being built, because of fears of disruption.

At present, the safest element of Transport 21 appears to be the road building aspect. A spokesman for the National Roads Authority said that funding had already been secured for all projects and contracts were already in place.

‘‘We are well on the way to achieving our stated goal of completing everything by 2010,” he said.

http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS+FEATURES-qqqm=nav-qqqid=34896-qqqx=1.asp

paulm17781

strassenwolf wrote: »

More from the Business Post about those "ring-fenced" funds. The journalist, Dick O'Brien, has already dropped the interconnector.

Which implies he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

stiktoir

paulm17781 wrote: »

Which implies he doesn't really know what he's talking about.

The date for receipt of MN tenders is the end of the 1st week in December.
Sloppy journalism typical of O'Brien.