Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in Leinster House. I thank the witnesses for the presentations. I am a strong advocate of both compact growth and transport oriented development so I endorse a large portion of what has been said. The real challenge, and Deputy McAuliffe's questions alluded to this, is the implementation. My questions are directed to Dr. Rock and her team in the first instance, but other witnesses should feel free to speak if there is time to do so. What are the best ways to achieve the outcomes we have discussed here? That is our core problem. For me, there appear to be three problems. The first is policy-making. Infrastructure investment and delivery are very fragmented, with two Departments and multiple agencies in transport and housing. That is before one gets into the mix of public and private. Are there models of best practice from other jurisdictions that find a better way of overcoming that fragmentation so that at both the policy-making and funding levels there is greater co-ordination and consistency?

Second, we have a major problem with transport infrastructure lag. The final iteration of BusConnects is very positive, but it is still delayed over three years rather than the original first year. Again, are there models from other jurisdictions of best practice where they are able to have both the residential development and the transport infrastructure, whether it is new developments or retrofitting existing developments, with greater density housing and more active transport infrastructure?

Third, I refer back to the issue of public support. I get very concerned when I see the way some of this debate goes. My view is that people are entitled to an opinion, even if I do not agree with it. Rather than us ending up having an argument in which people are shouting at each other, we have to find a better way of participating earlier in the process to get the best possible outcomes. Blackrock is interesting because there is probably a longer list of the unsuccessful projects for some of that street furniture infrastructure for active mobility transport. We could also talk about Sandymount or Woodford Hill in Clondalkin, or Lucan's current transport plans. From the work Dr. Rock has done, are there principles of participative planning that are not necessarily in the mainstream of our planning process which we might want to incorporate to ensure not only that we get a less conflictive process but a better outcome at the end?