Ms Deirdre Hanlon:

In regard to sustainability and public transport, we take the view that of its nature public transport is more accessible, more sustainable, more environmentally friendly, greener and better in terms of liveability in cities and other areas than private car use. There is a considerable level of State investment in providing rural transport now and in the future. There are several motivations for that, one of which might broadly be termed the green agenda, that is, a policy direction towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches to life in Ireland.

On the question of the public transport fleet and the type of fleet it is appropriate to bring forward, let us start by looking at emissions. Transport emissions account for 20% of Ireland's emissions. Just 1% of that is public transport. It is very low. One could ask if it matters whether it is made greener. As some of the members of the committee have correctly pointed out, the standards of transport vehicles change as they move up the European emission standards classes. We were at euro 3, euro 4 and euro 5. Euro 6 is the norm nowadays. Moving up the standards, vehicles become more sustainable and environmentally friendly and have fewer emissions and better exhaust profiles. It is getting better all the time.

That said, a leadership role must be taken by the public transport sector. While its own emissions might not be at a tipping point concerning Ireland's emissions generally, the fact that so much public funding goes into the area suggests that it should be leading rather than following. Public transport should be demonstrating possibilities to other parts of the economy, particularly private personal car use and private business vehicle use, whether heavy-duty vehicles or lighter-duty goods vehicles are concerned. There are initiatives around this. A commitment has been made in the national development plan that by the middle of next year there will be no more purchases of diesel-only fleet for urban public transport services. That sends a very strong signal. To support that, not just in regard to immediate purchases but throughout the coming period, the Department is researching these issues internationally, looking at evidence from other jurisdictions, what they have done, how they have got on and the experience they have had. We are examining whether other jurisdictions have taken a straight route or done about turns on the way. In addition to that and to hearing from the manufacturers, we want to test it for ourselves. We want to test the technology on our roads, on hilly and flat bus routes and on routes where a vehicle has to stop ten times going down a street because of traffic, traffic lights or whatever. That is a piece of work the Department has commissioned. A set of trials will be rolled out. They will start within a few weeks, certainly before the end of the year, and they will run for a fixed number of weeks.