THE GOVERNMENT is seeking public views on its proposal to merge the National Roads Authority and the Railway Procurement Agency.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has proposed merging the two State agencies as a cost-saving measure. The plan is in the Coalition’s Programme for Government and follows a similar proposal set out in the McCarthy report of 2009, which analysed a range of cost-saving measures across the public service.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Varadkar asked interested parties and the public to send in their views on the proposed merger. He said he would shortly seek Cabinet approval for his merger plans, now that a regulatory impact analysis was finished.
The railway body is the State agency responsible for providing light rail and metro infrastructure. The roads authority has overall responsibility for planning and supervision of construction and maintenance works on national roads.
The Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, which was chaired by economist Colm McCarthy, advised that merging the two State agencies could save the exchequer €3 million.
The report supported a Department of Transport proposal to assign responsibility for administering expenditure on regional and local roads to the roads authority.
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