Ms Mary Rose Burke:

Our preference is for a smart, liveable, walkable and cycleable city and that depends on a certain public policy ethos to support such a goal with high density living to some extent in the city centre and reduced commute times. From the work we have done, it appears that an acceptable commute is of the order of about 30 minutes. That would put us on a par with other competitive cities. I take Deputy Ryan's point about the orbital ring road. It is included in our policies because if we do not get DART underground and metro north, we will have no alternative because the city will grind to a halt. Our focus is on ensuring the city continues to be able to function as a competitive one and in that regard we have choices to make. One is to make a full commitment to public transport on a long-term basis - and I mentioned a 20-year capital investment plan earlier - because we cannot have this stop-go, stop-go approach. In the absence of that commitment, we will need an orbital ring-road because the M50 will be a car park.