Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Anyone tuning into this broadcast would be left thinking that in order to tackle climate change, one would need an electric vehicle, EV, because most of this conversation has been about electric vehicles. How are we really going to tackle the fact that 20% of greenhouse gas emissions are generated by transport? We will do so by moving into the public transport space and away from individuals using private cars.

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and have a number of questions for them. They did not mention the departmental policy called Smarter Travel - A New Transport Policy for Ireland 2009-2020. I also did not hear mention of the national cycling policy framework. Is the Department being guided by its own policies for smarter travel and the national cycling policy framework to achieve emission savings?

The 2009 report was fairly shocking because one could see, in 2009, that we should have been shifting towards sustainable forms of travel for public transport. We have not moved in that direction and traffic congestion is worse than ever. I know because I try to travel by train but I travel from Tramore to Leinster House in Dublin. Unfortunately, a journey that should last just two hours takes four hours due to congestion and road traffic, which is highly frustrating.

Are there policies in place to encourage the use of electric bicycles? I lived in the Netherlands for years and that country had incredibly efficient transport networks for cyclists. Is there a move towards facilitating cyclists? At present in Dublin, the buses use the cycling lanes thus leaving cyclists in a very precarious situation. I have no seen change in the amount of support for cycling.