Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have amendment No. 615 but I have kind of addressed that because the Minister of State is going to come back on the hierarchy of road users model.

Amendment No. 616 is about car parking and storage. What I am trying to achieve here is to address this kind of old, car-dependant language that is a hangover and legacy of our planning past, where we talk about "car parks". That is valuable space around a community where people live, and I do not think it should be designated just for cars. It should be for parking. We are seeing this shift, especially with e-bikes and e-scooters, where a lot more people are using those as a form of transport. Rather than just having car parks, it should be "parking". What I infer by the word "storage" is adequate shelters, storage and facilities for people who use electric bicycles and scooters. Rather than just having them up against a Sheffield stand stuck over in the far corner of the car park, they should be treated with the same importance, in fact more importance because they are fighting climate change. That is what that amendment refers to. Could the Minister of State look at that and take it in the spirit that we should not just designate that for the car? It should be for parking for sustainable transport.