Department of Finance - Government of Ireland

Transport
Commentary

Overview:
The proposals submitted by the Department of Transport identified measures required to manage within its approved pre-Budget target. The Department confirmed that its proposed provision would be sufficient to meet all legal and contractual commitments. It also confirmed that any funding required for the new Railway Safety Commission would be met from within its overall pre-Budget allocation.

The proposed allocation does not include provision for any payments arising from the work of the group examining Taxi Plate Hardship Payments. This issue will have to be considered in the context of any Budget day expenditure adjustments.

Additional comments:
Regional Airports - The Committee considers that the Public Service Obligations programme, which subsidises scheduled air services to regional airports, is difficult to justify having regard to the very high subsidy per passenger using such services (an average of €87 per passenger per flight).

CIE - If services are to be maintained, an increase in CIE fares is essential and urgent (see Appendix III).

Transport Vote
Summary of Committee's proposals
2002 REV (Amended Estimate)*			1799.49
Gross ELS figure for Vote Group			1864.08
Gross Pre-Budget target (PBT) for Vote Group			1858.80
Savings below ELS required to reach Pre-Budget target (share of €900m)			5.28
Gross savings proposed by the Committee to contribute to €900m target			5.85
Proposed Revised Gross Allocation (as per Table 1)			1858.23
Proposed Revised Gross Allocation following transfer to administrative budgets			1841.14

		€m	€m
Estimate bid submitted by Transport (in line with pre-Budget target)		1858.80	2003 Proposed Allocation for each subhead

*Less savings proposed by the Committee*
A	Administrative Budget efficiency dividend (E)	0.57	27.86

	Total savings	0.57


	Proposed Revised Gross Allocation	1858.23


	(E) refers to Estimating Savings

Proposed Revised Gross Allocation following decisions of Committee		1858.23

Administrative Budget Adjustments
	Impact of transfer of functions	-17.09

Proposed Revised Gross Allocation post transfer of functions		1841.14
* For comparison purposes, the 2002 REV figure reflects the impact of the transfer of programme functions for a full 12 month period. The 2002 figures reflect the impact of the transfer of administrative budgets from June, 2002