Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues for facilitating me to jump up a little in the queue of speakers. I really appreciate it. It is great we are down to the nitty-gritty of pre-legislative scrutiny on the issue of e-scooters. An awful lot of work has been done on this, and we cannot lose sight of that or fail to recognise work that was done by the previous transport committee. Members of the previous committee such as Noel Rock did an awful lot of work on this to get it to where we are today. To what extent has the proliferation of e-scooters as we see them taken the NTA and TII by surprise over the past year, particularly the past few months? It seems, as Deputy Cathal Crowe mentioned in his initial contribution, that they are everywhere now and have really become part of the transport infrastructure in the big cities, at least, but I presume everywhere else. I am excited by them. I am excited by anything that could deliver solutions for that last kilometre or first kilometre of a journey or commuting journey. Has the NTA looked at studies on modal shift here? We need to get people out of their cars and to reduce gridlock. Air quality in Dublin and our other cities is really poor. Are e-scooters the solution to this and, if so, to what extent? If we are to meet our emissions targets of 7% annually for the coming years, Ireland's towns, cities and villages will look very different. Are e-scooters a part of that look, in the witnesses' view? Has the NTA conducted a detailed analysis of this in other territories, and has it reviewed this in the context of its deliberations? Has any analysis been conducted as to what this would mean for vulnerable pedestrians such as people with disabilities and people who are visually impaired? I met recently with Labour Disability, which has issues with the BusConnects designs and how some of the buses stop, and then there is a cycle lane and a pathway and the challenges that throws up. Where do e-scooters fit in there? It may sound like I am getting parochial, but on big projects, be it BusConnects or MetroLink, which is coming down the tracks, to what extent have e-scooters impacted the planning and the production of the railway orders that are coming up? I would be interested in the witnesses' thoughts on that. It may not be written in the railway orders but surely there must be some kind of consideration of how these will impact these major projects.