Eamon Gilmore and Kathleen O’Meara announce Labour’s position on Roads |
Labour Party commits to a review of the National Development Plan |
| At a public meeting in Nenagh on Tuesday 25th September 2001, the Labour Party announced its policy on roads. Mr Eamon Gilmore said that Labour’s spending priorities were health, education, public transport and then roads. Mr Gilmore read the text of a Dail debate on the creation of the NRA in 1991 where he looked for the creation of a National Transport Authority that would oversee Ireland’s transport needs. He and Senator Kathleen O’Meara committed the Labour Party to a review of the National Development Plan if elected to government. “This is not our plan,” Mr Gilmore stated, “it is the current governments and it was created without any public consultation”. Both he and Ms O’Meara voiced their strong opposition to tolling. “We are committed to universal access to all public services, including the public roads. This country already has two forms of Road Taxation, the Motor Tax, and taxes/duties on motor fuels,” he said. Mr Gilmore outlined legislative changed to the public consultation process that would make it an exercise in consultation as opposed to the current system. He proposed provide for a staged approach to public consultation, to include (a) a concept stage; (b) an alternative options stage; (c) a design stage; (d) an implementation stage. He also proposed to: (a) establish an independent process of mediation to facilitate genuine problem-solving consultation. (b) establish an independent arbitration mechanism, to which parties to a dispute over particular aspects of a project may have recourse (c) establish a dedicated division of the High Court to hear, without delay, any legal case which arises from the proposed development. Mr Gilmore added that reason the Labour Party was taking the roads issue seriously was due to the work of Senator Kathleen O’Meara. Speakers from the floor thanked the Labour Party for the opportunity to voice their concerns, pointing out that both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail had failed to provide such opportunity. It was obvious from several speakers that there is an unprecedented mood in the countryside to break with old political allegiances because of the roads issue. Mr Gilmore ended the evening by promising that what the Labour Party was saying six months before the election was exactly what it would be saying six months after the election. Labour Press Office on 01-6184302 |