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

I am sorry I was not present earlier. I had to put a question to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and I will have to leave again soon. We do a great deal of multi-tasking here. I wish to pick up on the question asked by Deputy Burton relating to the national planning framework. The committee received a submission from the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, IBEC, on 8 February last which I believe was spectacular in the lack of sustainable thinking displayed.

IBEC connected its submission to the national planning framework and gave a presentation on it again this morning to Oireachtas Members. It was more motorways and dual carriageways everywhere with thousands of kilometres more of motorways. They said we must finish our 20th-century solutions before we start looking at 21st-century solutions. I could not believe it because we are one of only two states that will not meet its climate targets in Europe and we are one of four states not meeting renewable targets. If one drives out on the N7 in the morning there are tens of thousands of people stuck in traffic jams and all these union members are spending an extra two hours per day getting to and from work. This is a huge imposition on the quality and the cost of work.

I am slightly nervous as Deputy Burton seems to be talking up motorways to Sligo and from Cork to Limerick. For four decades we have sprawled, and we have sprawled spectacularly, because we have spent four to one on roads versus public transport. Everything in my political antenna says that we are being set up for the same thing again. Pretty much every Deputy from around the country is going to say that they want motorways everywhere and that they must have dual carriageways here, there and everywhere. The numbers are going to be stacked up on that. I do not know what but it will take something to try to change our ways to bring development back to the centre. It is part of the corruption of land and land pricing that Ms King spoke of earlier. We must radically change our development process. The planning experts know that and have said that but everything I hear is the opposite; we are just going to keep building more and more roads and sprawl further out.

We have had a very good experience in recent years of talking with ICTU and other trade unions on the ideas around just transition, a recognition that the jobs are going to come to the centre, in sustainable solutions and in efficient high-tech clean industries. That is where the economic future is. Our country has no interest in it, our political and public systems have no understanding of that and we are going to miss the opportunity. I plead with ICTU as it has an interest in just transition. Maybe it could use its voice to say funding should be spent on public transport first on this occasion. It will not advantage workers to be stuck in yet longer traffic jams. Galway's issues will not be solved by another outer ring road at €600 million. If we put that amount into some decent public transport solutions in Galway we might start to see the city really develop with further jobs. It is a fantastic city but it is about to gridlock and no amount of roads will solve that problem. The only way to solve it is with proper public transport and planning but we are not doing that. I was slightly worried when Dr. McDonnell listed off about a half a dozen other projects. This would eat up the entire capital freedom we have, we would not have the public transport and we would be another decade or two going towards unsustainable sprawl the direction in which, God help us, IBEC wants to drive us.