Green Party Transport councillor, Deirdre de Burca said today:

"An utter failure in transport and planning has been one of the defining characteristics of this Fianna Fail/ PD Government. Their spectacular incompetence has been laced with a lethal twist of arrogance which seems to define the Progressive Democrat administration. In answer to the question posed by Minister McDowell yesterday, the answer is No - the Greens will not be going into Government looking to implement Progressive Democrat and Fianna Fail transport policies. Instead, our every effort between now and the next election will be to get them out of office before they do any further damage to this country.

"We want Minister McDowell to in turn give a straight answer as to why he expects us to commit to a Transport 21 plan which includes not a single cost estimate for any of the transport projects that have been outlined. Details from that plan would still need no more than the back of the envelope to be written on. Transport 21 was hastily and shoddily drawn up in an attempt to buy the election. Unlike the PDs, the Greens would at least want to know what the likely costs and benefits of a project are before committing to it."

The examples of PD mismanagement in transport policy are clear to see:

CLAIM: In 1999 the PDs and Fianna Fail promised to deliver five interurban motorways from Dublin by 2007 at a cost of €5.6bn. REALITY: The true cost is now closer to €18 billion and the five roads will not be completed until 2010 at the earliest.

CLAIM: In their 2002 manifesto the PDs promised that a Dublin Metro and five Luas lines would be built by 2007. REALITY: The PDs delayed these projects for years as they debated whether the lines should go underground or overground.

CLAIM: The PDs went into Government promising that within one term the Dublin bus market would be 100% liberalised. REALITY: Bus passenger numbers are now falling as a four year row between the government parties has halted the delivery of any new buses.

CLAIM: When opening up the taxi market in 2000, Bobby Molloy promised that from 2003 all taxis would begin to be wheelchair accessible. REALITY: Today it is almost impossible for someone with a wheelchair to get a taxi and the PDs have no interest in the matter.

"The Green Party will launch its own updated transport policy paper in advance of the next election," De Burca continued. "Most of the main interurban motorways will be contracted at that stage and we will of course honour those contracts, which will still take up the bulk of the roads budget for the next five years. However, the Greens in Government will be seriously investing in new rail lines and bus services around the country. In government, we guarantee that the extended Luas Line from Cherrywood will directly service the town centre of Bray, rather than opening up undeveloped agricultural land in the foothills of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. The people can choose which option they prefer at the next election."