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

Okay. I would like to make a broader point. When representatives of IBEC made a presentation before this committee, my heart sank from an environmental perspective because they seemed to want motorways and roads everywhere. It was clear to me when I looked at our national climate mitigation plan last week that we are doing nothing on the transport side for climate mitigation. Our emissions are increasing sharply and we are facing a bill of at least €500 million in the near future. It seems that there are no plans in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Every time we talk to people on the inside, we are told that nothing is happening. There is no ambition to do anything on climate. When I see the roads proposals of groups like IBEC, there seems to be an even smaller prospect of us cutting emissions. It is slightly disappointing that the presentation we have heard this afternoon, like the submission we received from TII in advance of today's meeting, is all about roads and has no vision for public transport. Even though the national planning framework is open for consultation, TII seems to be all about roads and not about the investment in public transport, walking and cycling that is required if we are to build up our cities, towns and villages. When people told me at the time of the merger that it was, in effect, an NRA takeover of the RPA, I did not know whether that was a bit harsh. It seems from the presentation that has been made here today that we are back to looking at an old-fashioned roads programme with no acknowledgement of the congestion that is happening, the crisis that is facing our cities and the gridlock that is about to ensue. There is no acknowledgement whatsoever of the climate change challenge we face. Mr. Nolan did not refer to that challenge in his presentation.