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Mr John O'Dowd: Assembly records
All of Mr John O'Dowd’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
I say to the Member that I commit to being hopeful that I will be able to make an announcement in the next number of weeks. Although I would much prefer to undertake the £140 million-odd scheme, I can make significant input into improving public transport options for people in Belfast, north and south, by investing…
The estimated cost of the north Belfast to south Belfast Glider route is in the range of £142 million to £148 million. Although £35 million of funding has been secured through the Belfast region city deal, a considerable shortfall of some £110 million remains. Work on the feasibility of extending the route to…
I am not sure. I will ask my private office whether there are records. It may be that there are records for the Strangford constituency or for the council area — they sometimes swap over — but, if they are available, I will ask for them to be shared with the Member.
Each location is judged on its own merits and, as I said, against the departmental policy, which has been in place for a significant number of years. Safety — road safety and pedestrian safety — is one of the characteristics of that policy against which locations are judged. The other thing that we have to be mindful…
As I said in my answer to the substantive question, there has been a significant change in our street lighting over the past number of years. Members of the public will have noticed that, in some areas, street lighting poles and equipment have been removed because they do not fit with the policy that has been in place…
If the Member has any specific areas in mind, he should feel free to contact my private office. I will ensure that they are followed up. Street lighting provides a safer environment for people to use pathways, walkways, active travel routes etc. The Member is right to raise the concerns about safety for women,…
I am pleased to inform the Member that, for the current financial year, I have been able to allocate funding to enable my Department to provide a full street lighting maintenance service, with outage repairs generally being carried out within the established target of five working days. My Department has replaced…
The Dublin Government have been able to subsidise Iarnród Éireann to a higher degree than I have been able to subsidise Translink. They seem to have quite a healthy bank balance and they are able to subsidise public transport to a greater degree than I am. That is the reason for it. Translink is making some…
I saw some social media activity on that matter. I apologise to those who were left behind and did not get the service that they should have been getting. I will raise the matter directly with Translink to see what lessons can be learned. Our message, correctly, is that we want to attract more people to use public…
As part of the all-island rail review, there is a feasibility study on how we can have better connectivity with Belfast City Airport to encourage more and more people to use public transport and ensure that it is safely accessible. That work is ongoing.
It has thus far, despite the teething problems that I outlined to Mr Butler, proved successful. It will encourage more and more people to use public transport, locally and in the border corridor. There are some operational issues, outside my jurisdiction and outside our control, in the Dublin area, with increased…
The timetabling of trains etc is an operational matter for Translink. However, such matters should be kept under review, because we are, thankfully, seeing an increase in the number of passengers using public services. As with any new operation, there will be teething problems, as I outlined in my initial response. I…
The Member will be aware that rail services commenced from the new Belfast Grand Central station on 13 October 2024. Translink has confirmed that, despite rigorous testing and training in the run-up to the opening, a small number of technical issues emerged in the first few days of operation. Those were limited to…
I thank the Member for her question. Engagement with the FCA does not fall under my remit. It may fall under that of the Department for the Economy or, indeed, the Department of Finance. With the flood maps, we now have a detailed analysis of where flooding is likely to occur. I accept that it may cause challenges for…
I am aware that NI Water and Uisce Éireann have been working jointly in that regard and that they have submitted a bid to the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) to have funding allocated to that project. I am optimistic that that funding bid will be successful. However, a formal announcement on it cannot take place…
I do not have the exact figures for budget allocation in front of me. As with all areas of public services, the budgets are under constraint, even in relation to flooding response. However, it has to be said that, despite those constraints, if we look at the flooding incidents last year, we see that my Department…
My Department is the lead Department for the strategic coordination of the emergency response to significant flooding, and my officials have worked with partner organisations to develop a multi-agency severe weather plan for emergencies that occur anywhere across the North. That plan details the pre-planned…
In my opinion, it makes for more coherent policy direction for our airports. DFE already has the significant proportion of those airport responsibilities. The small matters that I look after, such as management of land adjacent to airports and noise control, fit better with DFE and allow a single point of contact for…
The York Aviation report calls for the development of an airport policy, and I welcome the fact that this is now in development. Our airports play an important role for our economy by providing the vital connectivity that we, as an island, rely on. Primary responsibility for the development of the policy lies with the…
All relevant material evidence presented as part of the planning application will be given the weight that it deserves as part of the planning process.
A public inquiry is necessary when it is likely to elicit further information on material considerations where those considerations have not been adequately addressed by the planning application. Obviously, I am aware that there was a previous public inquiry on this application in October 2016. The decision on whether…