Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. O'Brien for his attendance. I must leave shortly to ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport a question in the House. I am particularly interested in IBEC's document entitled Connected: A prosperous island of 10 million. I attended the launch of the national planning framework that took place in Maynooth last week. Mr. O'Brien is right that we should use this opportunity to rethink our capital spend, increase it and invest in long-term infrastructural projects that will overcome visible bottlenecks. I also agree with his assessment that we must balance the development that takes place outside of Dublin with what happens in Dublin for its sake as well as that of the rest of the country while keeping the energy of Dublin. The city of Dublin must compete with other international capital so investment is not an either-or matter.

I am concerned, having read the report, that IBEC seems to be going towards seeking almost 1,500 km of new motorway or an advanced upgrade of dual carriageway. Cities are where economic development has occurred. It seems to me that such economic development has occurred where life has been brought back to the centre of cities. That is where we have a real problem. Cork city has been hollowed out in the past 20 to 30 years. Galway city is a disaster in planning terms. Everyone that I have talked to in Galway has told me that new roads will not solve the problem but we are going to spend €600 million on another ring-road. Galway has suffered from bad planning and needs urban public transport to address the problem. I am concerned that IBEC's network version for the future it is all motorways and dual carriageways. I do not think that we can afford such motorways and dual carriageways and the necessary investment in public transport in the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dublin for two reasons. First, the budget is low. Second, what has characterised our development in the past 20 or 30 years is this incredible doughnutting because everyone lives 20, 30 or 40 miles away from our cities and has to try to drive back into the cities. No matter how many motorways and dual carriageways are built the system will not work. As we have seen in Dublin, those cars will eventually arrive at the M50, which will be clogged as sure as eggs are eggs. That is the biggest threat to our long-term viability. People refuse to travel to Dublin because they know the city is a transport disaster.

Why does IBEC not champion investment in public transport as a critical economic investment? Why does IBEC talk about motorways and advances in dual carriageways but does not recommend a light rail system for Cork or using the existing rail lines in Limerick and Galway? We should aim to develop the centre of those cities and encourage people to live there. We should not have an ever extending commute that has characterised this country for the past 50 years. If we do not make that fundamental shift no amount of financial investment will work. Instead, we will become uncompetitive and people will have a lousy quality of life. Why is IBEC obsessed with motorways and roads but not with public transport?