Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 November 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

National Development Plan 2021-2030: Discussion

Photo of Cathal CroweCathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Chapter 11 of the national development plan refers to the need for a brand new aviation policy. The last national aviation policy we had dates from 2015. It still exists but it is pretty much defunct now as we come out of Covid. When will we have a new national aviation policy, one that recalibrates aviation in our country and gives back to the regions, including the likes of Shannon, Cork, Knock etc?

Tomorrow, we will have a meeting with the Coast Guard and I do not wish to comment on a particular matter in Clare at present. That is progressing quite well after the intervention of a mediator today. The Minister has ministerial authority, supreme authority, over the Coast Guard and there are a number of practices that need to be looked at and addressed quickly. Some of their rescuing operations along cliffs have been scaled back by the Department. The Coast Guard's ability to use a bolting system for climbing training has also been taken from it, as has climbing training within stations. Effectively, the service is being wound back and diluted. When the meat is really needed on the bone is at the time of rescue. My concern is that because we are slowly diluting what the Coast Guard does, in time it will not have the skill set we require its members to have in order to carry out rescues off-shore.

This is my final point. During the questions on promised legislation debate, I raised the idea of school buses with the Taoiseach and, indeed, the Minister, Deputy Foley. Let us think of any town or city in the country during the months of July or August. One can get from one side to another without any traffic congestion because schools are closed. The local school I taught in for 15 years would typically have 250 cars each morning coming up a narrow rural road dropping off kids.

The drop-off is slow. Imagine if we took them off the road. The Minister talks about a 2:1 ratio in terms of public transport. A very quick way we could do this is by investing significantly in school transportation, by ripping up the policies that existed heretofore and by getting rid of archaic rules about drains, roads and boundaries here and distances there. If we transform school transportation, we can make it possible for buses to start here, there and everywhere each morning, thereby taking kids to school and cars off the road..

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.