Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come back and give an alternative view. I agree with what the Minister said about the city. Many people living in rural and regional areas, who are not serviced by good public transport and in some cases none at all, are forced into car ownership. We heard from Dr. Hannah Daly and others at the climate committee about long-term affordability. I have lived that experience myself when I was commuting in and out of Dublin. On a point of principle, I was taking public transport because it was part time, but the minute I moved to the car I was saving time and saving money. That is not the way it is supposed to be. We need to build a system that improves on that.

I wish to raise with the Minister a couple of points relating to projects in my county. We have the Boyne greenway which is proceeding at a frustratingly slow pace. The initial feasibility study on it was done in 2011. I met with the Navan cycling initiative last night. It raised its frustrations in terms of the practical delivery of the project. In the first instance, we need to expand the greenway from Navan to Trim and while it should be, it is not on the radar at all. I know projects of that type and scale have been progressed in other areas in a more efficient way.

I also wish to pick up on the Government's initiative for students commuting to college. Is there an indicative timeline for the new scheme? How will it apply to public transport and also to private operators?