Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We differentiate between urban and rural areas when we talk about sustainable settlements and sustainable transport strategies. Although transportation needs in rural areas are often different from those in high-density areas, we should not differentiate between them when we talk about sustainable settlement patterns. They should apply countrywide. A rural dweller has as much desire and need for sustainable transport and a settlement pattern as an urban dweller. This language is still 20 years old. We are in a climate crisis.

I accept approximately 70% to 80% of this is transposed from the 2000 Act. That is the language of 2000, when we were building roads to everywhere. We have moved on from that. The language in this Bill, which will serve us for the next ten, 15 or 20 years, needs to move with the times. Where I have asked for the hierarchy-of-road-users model to be implemented through the various plans, I will accept that the Minister of State will look and see what the difficulty is with having a definition of that model in the interpretation and definition sections of the Bill. Will the Minister of State come back to me on TOD?

On amendment No. 337, section 42 relates to the obligation to prepare strategy for sustainable development and regeneration. At the end of subsection (2)(b), the phrase "development of local transport plans" is used. Is it understood that a local transport plan would adhere to the hierarchy-of-road-users model and that it would include active travel, cycling, walking and access to public transport?