Donohoe welcomes passing of Roads Bill 2014 to merge NRA & RPA into Transport Infrastructure Ireland

30th April, 2015

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe, TD, today (Thursday) welcomed the passing by the Oireachtas of the Roads Bill 2014; the purpose of which is to establish a new agency -Transport Infrastructure Ireland – through the merger of the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA).

 

The merger of NRA and RPA will demonstrate the best and most efficient use of public resources consistent with the Government’s public sector reform agenda and, in particular, its Agency Rationalisation Programme.

 

Minister Donohoe said: ‘The new merged body will benefit from the sharing of technical and professional expertise developed over the years in the RPA and NRA. This will help to create a new streamlined organisation which will play a key role in maximising the contribution that the State’s investment in transport can make to supporting our growing economy and to meeting Ireland’s longer-term economic and environmental objectives’.

 

“Ensuring value for money for the taxpayer has been a focus of Government’s since coming to office and through the Agency Rationalisation Programme Plan, which included a specific commitment to implement 48 agency rationalisation and reform measures, and the Public Sector Reform Plan 2014-2016, which was published early last year, we are making progress.

 

“A recent report on the implementation of the rationalisation programme found that measures affecting more than 90% of the bodies to be merged or rationalised were completed by the end of 2014, and when the remainder are fully completed there will be 181 fewer bodies operating in the Irish Public Service than in 2011. In the interest of securing our recovery and maximizing resources we will continue to pursue this path. I am happy that this bill has passed through all stages of the legislative process and look forward to working with the new agency.”

 

The ministerial orders, giving effect to the merger provisions contained in the Bill, will be executed in the coming weeks.

Notes to Editors

The new organisation (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) will benefit from combining the technical expertise and experience available in the NRA and RPA.  The specialist areas concerned include: Project management, negotiation and management of PPP contracts, transport planning, engineering design and advice, planning and environment policies and procedures, property acquisition and management.  The greater range of in-house expertise and skills available to the new organisation is expected to lead to a reduction in reliance on external consultants.

It is envisaged that the value created by RPA, in terms of organisation and specialist project management skills, will be combined with the NRA which will become a leader in the planning, delivery and management of transport infrastructure in Ireland, while also demonstrating the best and most efficient use of scarce public resources.

 

The increase in scale due to the merger of both organisations is also expected to generate benefits through more efficient capital expenditure and an ability to leverage greater efficiencies in procurement.  For instance, the new organisation will be the key player in the Irish PPP market and its capacity to negotiate and secure finance for PPP projects on the best possible terms will be strengthened.

Savings in the administrative budgets will be achieved through the consolidation of office accommodation. All staff of TII will be located in one central location in Parkgate St (RPA’s current location).  It is also expected that a reduction in staff numbers would be achieved either through re-assignment to the wider public service or through natural attrition over the longer term.

 

There will be an opportunity to achieve further savings in the support functions of the combined organisation in the longer term.  The provision of administrative support services, especially financial management, IT, HR etc. will be enhanced in the new body and there is scope for rationalisation in this area as the merger process is worked through.

Ends