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

I wish to finish my points. My frustration is due to the fact that if we went the alternative route and invested in cycling, as Deputy Troy said, with a high-quality, first-class network of cycling super highways in and around the city, it would do more than anything else to tackle the congestion problem. In all journeys from the centre of the city to a distance of 4 km a bicycle will be fastest. Any journey from here to the M50 is within that distance or has that timeline of a half an hour cycle ride. We could transform the congestion problem by investing in that network but, as Deputy Troy said, the opposite is happening. The budget is collapsing and there are no projects ready to go. There is no leadership in that area.

Second, I agree with what Deputy Lahart said. There should be massive investment in the bus network. Take the example of his route, the No. 15. My concern is that the statistics show that bus patronage on the Rathfarnham QBC fell 4.6% last year. Bus speeds are stuck at 10 km/h, and have been that way for ever and a day. We have been looking at that route for 20 years and wondering how to solve it. My personal view is that the metro should go to Rathfarnham. It would transform that corridor. I fully support the BusConnects project but I have some fears. Can Mr. Creegan say, in advance of the presentation being launched in June, how we can solve the QBC problem on the Rathfarnham route when the section from Rathfarnham Road through Terenure Road North and Harold's Cross is a 9 m wide carriageway all the way? There are all sorts of complications with left and right turning junctions and a very difficult Terenure junction. I am frustrated because we are not recognising the scale of the crisis we face and the need for radical solutions for cycling and public transport. That would include the DART underground today, whereas it has been ruled out of the metro project. It appears to have been ruled out for ever because no space is being provided for the DART underground station in St. Stephen's Green. We are taking another 25-year leap ahead here and saying that we are not going to have that proper system.

We should bring the metro to Rathfarnham and upgrade the Luas green line by increasing frequency times and other measures. Let us be radical about cycling in the city. However, I do not hear or see that and that is the reason for my frustration and anger. It mirrors the anger and frustration of people stuck in their cars and people who-----