Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

An advisory panel and we put great time and energy into what contained some good provisions when it came out.

My view on plans now is predicated on that enthusiasm and what happened. There was consideration of where people lived and scenario testing, and we examined the worst-case scenario where we were to have higher densities in the city centre and linkages with public transport, and the investment was to be aligned with best case scenario. Of course, that is not what happened and we are not trying to retrofit some of the mistakes of not designing things in the way that it was hoped.

Obviously, I am only looking at one location. The witnesses are considering places such are Galway, that is choked with traffic, and what is being suggested as the solution. They are considering Cork and Limerick because there is a dispersed population pattern in the more rural areas. That is more difficult to deal with from a public transport perspective.

I am looking at the plans that have been provided and I want them to work. We not only want them to work but need them to work. I know the next generation. I know their names. I can see them. Some of them are my grandchildren. I am aware of the kind of fallout that they will have to pick up if we do not do our job today.

However, I have a significant sinking feeling about the Government's climate plan because I am looking at exactly what is being proposed from a transport perspective. There is no proposal to review the national development plan. A climate emergency was declared. We do not dispute the science but there has not been a shift towards funding public transport over and above the roads projects, which are more heavily funded in the plan than public transport.

I have been going on about DART underground or the interconnector for 20 years. I do not see how one can solve Dublin's transport problems without delivering on major projects such as DART underground, which was part of the Dublin Transportation Initiative. European funding was delivered in different ways but there was a shift in the early 1990s towards having to make an argument as to why funding should be given. It is interesting that the argument made to seek European funding was that Dublin, including the outer counties because there is a focus towards the city, had become uncompetitive because of traffic congestion. We are now, as Deputy Coppinger pointed out, one of the slowest cities in Europe.

I am struggling to see the coherence in the Government's plan from a transport perspective. If it is predominantly about building roads and shifting people from diesel and petrol cars into electric cars or hybrid cars, the State must produce the electricity to start with. A programme was broadcast in recent weeks on Moneypoint where capacity and making that shift are major issues. However, there is also a vision. We will still have traffic jams unless public transport is put in place, but they will be cleaner traffic jams. That is my feeling on how this will play out. Unless there is investment in large public transport projects, we will not make the sizeable shift needed. Until we address the issue of where people will live and where they work, we will be constantly trying to retrofit.

I would like this Government plan interrogated. It is almost like hearing that the Opposition will always be critical.

There is good reason to be critical of this plan. I want to see that criticism coming from non-political sources, and as heavily critical as it needs to be, because we have to make it work. I do not see in this plan how we are going to achieve that shift, unless we take the dramatic step of putting our money where our mouth is. Putting our money where our mouth is means putting money into public transport. I do not see any other way of doing it. There is a limit in terms of what can be achieved with electric vehicles, but there is no escaping the big step that is needed to get the attention necessary, which for me is the shift in how we fund public transport.