Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

We are here less than a week after the end of the COP27 summit, which was held in the midst of a climate crisis that is growing worse by the minute. It was held to address the extinction-level threat to our planet. The summit will ultimately be marked by the absolute failure of ambition. There was no ramping up of climate mitigation measures, no progress on ending fossil fuel use and no agreement on greater cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. This failure of ambition cannot just be put down to being a consequence of the difficulty in finding common ground between all the world's nations. We can see the same failure of ambition domestically. Ireland's carbon emissions are still on the rise. The Government has not met a single sectoral target that it set to achieve the 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In 2021, transport greenhouse gas emissions rose by 6.1%. Galway is a case in point for this failure in ambition.

There is no doubt that solutions need to be put in place to combat the level of congestion in Galway city centre, but the proposal for a ring road is a solution from a different era. The planners of Galway city ring road acknowledge that it would do little to relieve congestion, with longer average journey times anticipated due to an increase in the number of private car journeys. They stated that there would be a significant negative impact on carbon emissions and the climate.

A key requirement of the 2021 climate action plan is for the planning framework to reduce demand for travel by car, travel distances and journey times, none of which will be achieved by that ring road. This is not just a suggestion but a legal requirement for planning policy. The five cities demand management study aimed to identify avenues to reduce demand for private car travel in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway. The study found that additional road infrastructure will not solve the issue of congestion in most cases and that, in medieval cities such as Galway, there is little space to do so anyway.

The general pattern that has been observed over time is that additional road capacity leads to additional car-based travel, resulting in an increase in emissions, congested roads and even greater environmental damage. I am not anti-road, despite how often that label is thrown at people who are supportive of public transport. Roads are essential for bus-based transport or to build cycle networks.

For a century, the transport strategies of the State have been about ripping up railway infrastructure and prioritising cars. Time has moved on and our transport strategies need to move on with it. The solutions are straightforward and involve reliable, affordable and accessible public transport networks. I underscore that networks must be reliable. Galway City Council launched an application to the European Commission to become a net zero pilot city. If successful, it would receive funding to implement innovative approaches to carbon reduction over a two-year pilot programme. There is a significant opportunity to transform Galway's transport system if some ambition and political willpower is shown by the Government.

Park and ride was core to the development plan in 2005. That has not happened. There is great support, ambition and desire for a light rail project. A feasibility study did costings for a Luas-style heavy tram system about ten years ago. Since then, there have been innovations in very light rail in other locations. A light rail system was designed and trialled in Coventry, which is innovative since it requires a shallow track. It does not interfere with utilities that are buried underground. This makes it much cheaper to build and install. Light rail has been much more effective than buses at convincing people to forgo their cars in favour of public transport. Part of the reason for that is that people feel they are less likely to get stuck in traffic on rail systems during peak times. We talk about rush hour but we now have rush hours because it has become much longer. Some of that relates to failures. We hear a new term, "ghost buses", used to refer to buses that do not show up. Reliability has become a real problem. It forces people back into their cars. That is happening all over the country.

One can see the faith people place in the reliability of rail transport. People change their behaviour when it is provided. People will buy or rent houses along a rail line and often forgo the need to own a car. We can see that in other jurisdictions which have good public transport systems. Buses are necessary in that they are faster to roll out and can reach areas that rail will never be access. Rail has an unmatched psychological impact in making people switch over from daily car use.

Buses need to meet the needs of commuters, not the needs of organisations like the NTA, which tell people to take it or leave it. Where something does not work, organisations need to come back in to redesign it. I could not be more critical of the NTA's ability to resolve problems after it has designed something that simply does not work. I underscore that part, though not all, of the BusConnects system does not work and will not work.

The all-island strategic rail review and the programme for Government both committed to considering reopening the western rail corridor. It would be an essential transport artery, connecting communities across the west and north west. The opening of phase 1, from Ennis to Athenry, was a proven success, with 531,000 passenger journeys recorded in 2019, in the last record that was produced. We had an opportunity for balanced regional development in the last 25 years. Let us not lose it in the next 25 years. In the last 25 years, Dublin city's share of the population fell from 13% to 11%. The share of the three other Dublin counties grew from 15% to 16%, while the share of the outer counties, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, grew from 9% to 12%, stretching out the commuter area. Between them, these counties account for 39% of the national population, which has grown much bigger. They accounted for 35% of a smaller population 25 years ago. We are going the wrong way with balanced regional development. Deliberate moves, including public transport, need to be taken if we are to encourage people to relocate and achieve balanced regional development.

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