Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On active travel, the Deputy is absolutely right. We need a national network. A company called Sustrans was involved initially in delivering the UK model and developed a national cycle network. Such networks work for a variety of different reasons, particularly in relation to tourism. We can sell Ireland abroad as a place to come and cycle or walk, activities which are hugely popular and will grow. Critically, we must ensure that these are not seen as just leisure and tourist routes. The network should be seen as bringing people into and through the town or city. That is why we have amended the mandate for TII to give it the job in that area. TII is an incredibly effective delivery agency. It has good engineering and contracting experience. It is good at dealing with landowners in respect of compulsory purchase orders. That national network is key.

The position is similar when it comes to the cities, although it is not only TII that is involved. The NTA is working on these metropolitan area transport plans on a statutory basis in Dublin and on an advisory basis in the other cities.

Included within that are the cycling plans, and even down beneath that. Again, I am able to pick Dublin as an example. What I have seen in the four Dublin councils is that they are evolving and developing really good progressive cycling plans. They have to be rolled out in an integrated way, so it is not a case of having bits here and there. We are doing the Royal Canal at the moment, and we do need to complete the entire route. It will be politically difficult because I know there are some sensitive areas along the route. Similarly on the south side, we have done some really good bits on the Grand Canal between Portobello and Baggot Street, but we have not linked it up to Inchicore and further out. We have also done really good work on the north quays of the Liffey, but the south quays are horrific. This year we are building a really good cycle route from Clontarf into the city centre, but there is no point if it gets to Beresford Place or to the Millennium Bridge and we are into the horrible multi-lane car dominated transport system on Pearse Street or Tara Street. It does have to be part of an integrated network. What I am saying to the NTA in particular, and I will say it to local authorities – I had a meeting with 350 engineers on Zoom this morning – is to do the co-ordinated bit first. The same thing applies to Limerick. Routes must be coherent and not stop-start. They should not have a pole in the middle of the route or throw people out into the traffic in an unsafe way and promise them safety.

Coherent city and national networks are what we have to do in active travel. We will do this. We are only warming up. The level of spend has been slow to date – it was €45 million four years ago and it will be up to €289 million this year. That is not a small increase. It took time to get the engineers in the offices. It is still taking time. Dublin City Council has been unconscionably slow in getting some of the staff in, but they are coming. The key issue is the councillors. They must buy into the vision. For example, in Dublin city centre, councillors in Dublin City Council must decide if it is their view to stop the city being dominated by cars as part of the revival of the city.

In terms of accessibility and the cost of transport – I also include disability access as a key element in this, and the availability of public transport - one of the key issues in the Connecting Ireland public transport project is that it provides public transport to the people with the least public transport, who are often in the villages in rural areas. That is key. We have a number of initiatives in Dublin city, for example, the 90-minute fare and improvements to the Leap card as part of the BusConnects project. It is a significant benefit to be able to hop from the DART to the bus or the Luas to the bus and so on. We are extending a lot of the Leap zones. In Cork, Mallow, for example, is being included. I remember Deputy Sherlock was always pushing for that and I am glad we are delivering it. We will have a youth fare this spring, initially on the public transport routes but also on private routes, although that will take a little bit longer. That halving of the fares for people in their early 20s is important to get them into the habit of using public transport.

As I said, I was at a meeting the NTA organised with engineers around the country. There was a simple slide put up which I will share subsequently with the committee as it is something that I have always held to be true. Again, I am looking at Dublin city, because it is my city. Most households in Dublin city do not have a car. The biggest accessibility problem we have is that historically we were always investing in the private transport system and ignoring the fact that anyone with a disability or a low income who could not afford a car were not benefitting from that. In fact, they were often the people who suffered most from the air pollution and from the unsafe road conditions. The first key social justice aspect of transport to my mind is to switch towards active travel and public transport because that benefits the poorest in society disproportionately. I do not think that is a bad thing for us to do. That is the key.

I agree with some of the points made about pricing. It is very expensive on some of the routes. We will systematically address it. It is not easy. There are so many different calls on the money. It is not like a magic wand, but the first principle is to support those less well-off in society by investing in public transport and active travel.