Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her attendance at the committee and for her detailed submission. It is very welcome to see the increase in the Minister of State's departmental budget, which is a significant increase from budgets before.

It is reassuring to see the focus on investment in public transport. As a country, we planned around cars for the past 40 or 50 years. As such, we have ended up in circumstances in which there is major congestion and urban sprawl, at least before Covid. Emissions from transport have been spiralling upwards and we have had air quality issues in our towns, cities and villages. It is no wonder that we get this if we plan for it for 40 or 50 years.

Our current focus is Covid related, which is correct, but we must also think forward to a time when we will be Covid free, which I believe will happen. I do not know when it will be but that is what we are all working towards. Investment in public transport takes time. Capital investment is required and projects take time to design and to get up to speed. Land acquisition may be required. It is timely that we are aiming this budget towards public transport investment.

Let me move on to some of the transport areas. Rural bus services were touched on earlier. Deputy Cathal Crowe mentioned the Expressway service. It is critical that we provide options to people in smaller towns and villages so they can leave the car behind. It will never be possible to provide a service with a ten-minute frequency, as BusConnects could for a highly populated area, but it is still necessary to provide a service that is attractive and offers an alternative to driving a car. It opens up options for employment, recreation and education. Someone who lives in a town or village does not have to be car dependent if there is a bus service in the morning.

In the Minister of State's statement, she mentioned investment to maintain the steady state on the railways. We need to have a higher ambition, whereby, instead of maintaining the steady state, we improve frequencies and levels of service and give people more options. Therefore, we have to up our game. There are towns in my constituency, such as Tinahealy and Rathnew, where people are forced to own a car if they want to get to work in the nearest population centre, such as Gorey or Arklow. That adds a cost. In this regard, consider the argument that a service must be pulled if it is no longer viable. If a service is made so unattractive and unreliable that it is not an alternative, it is of no use and will not be used. If appropriate services are provided, people will use them.

Let me move on to the urban transport brief. It is positive to see the investment in the budget for BusConnects. It is an important project for the greater Dublin area. It will increase frequency. It gives options in that it will reconfigure the bus service into orbital and radial routes, which we should have done a long time ago. It would have been quite easy to do because it just means changing bus routes around. There is now an option whereby a passenger does not need to go into the city centre to get back out again. For example, a passenger going from Bray to Tallaght does not have to go into the city centre and back out again. I am happy, therefore, to see BusConnects proceed and the investment in it.

With regard to active travel and transport, it is really positive to see the increased budget. There is a huge desire for active travel. Every person in the room will have seen the uptake in cycling during the Covid period as a result of a reduction in capacity on public transport. People have come to realise that there are routes on which they can cycle to work or to recreational facilities. They recognise all the options that exist.

The investment in greenways is welcome. We should regard greenways not only as tourist attractions or as infrastructure for people who might want to go to a county for a week or two on holidays but also as attractive commuter links from town to town, especially where they are off-road and provide safe, segregated infrastructure. I am delighted to see the investment in greenways.

Safer Routes to School is a related matter. Most children would like to be able to cycle or walk to school safely. In the 1970s and 1980s, many more children were walking and cycling to school. Much of the time nowadays, it is unsafe to do so. When I get the opportunity to walk my own children to school in the morning - I am fortunate to live within walking distance of a school - my heart is in my mouth looking at children struggling through traffic and at roads we have given over to cars and not given over fairly to other forms of transport that are healthier. I am delighted to see the investment in these.

The Minister of State mentioned the investment in the Luas. It has been a massive success. I am glad to see the investment in the additional, longer carriages. A number of Luas projects are in the design and feasibility stages. We should actively pursue these. The existing Luas lines have been very successful and are absolutely jammed at commuter times. It is a little uncomfortable but I suppose this is an indication of success. Public transport should be busy. It is an indication that it is well designed and functioning. It should not be half empty. There are a number of routes on which I really hope to see progress. The Luas route to Bray has been talked about for so long. It is dependent on a metro south upgrade. A Luas to Finglas is another viable concept, as is the DART+ proposal. Electrification to Drogheda and, I hope, beyond, and also to Hazelhatch and Maynooth, makes perfect sense. These are major commuter growth areas. Before Covid, the roads to these locations were absolutely jammed. Commuters should be given the opportunity to use an electrified rail route. It can add capacity. More trains can be put on the line and there is better acceleration and braking capability. As we move from diesel-dependent units to electrified units, it will obviously fit very well with our desire to reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector.

I suggested to the National Transport Authority, NTA, two or three years ago that it look further south. Many of the transport objectives in its strategy were focused on the north and west and did not seem to focus much on the south. I asked the authority about the electrification of the lines from Greystones to Wicklow. Wicklow is set to grow under the regional transport strategy. I will continue to engage with the Department on that to examine the feasibility of electrification to Wicklow.

I have spent all my time welcoming where the investment is going. It is positive, which needs to be noted. With regard to electric vehicles, there seems to be a massive desire in Ireland to purchase larger vehicles, such as SUVs and crossovers. They are expensive. An electric crossover model costs €40,000 to €50,000. There are perfectly good, adequate smaller electric vehicles that can be obtained at a much more affordable price. Will the Minister of State consider incentivising the purchasing of smaller, more affordable adequate vehicles rather than the bigger, more fashionable ones that may not be required, especially in urban areas? I understand fully that there is a need for SUVs and 4x4s and rural areas. In urban areas, they are totally unnecessary.