Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend everybody involved in today's presentation and the research undertaken. It was startling to go through the report from beginning to end. Two things struck me at the beginning. One was the piece by Dora. She spoke about the car being a happy place and about laughter. Karen said that she would support measures to have fewer cars on the road. We must bring those two points together. How can we make transport gender neutral? None of us should travel on a train, the DART or a bus and be worried or frightened if it is a dark or badly lit place. Deputy Alan Farrell previously made a point about his experience on the DART. How can we make public transport gender neutral? Does the committee have a role, in tandem with the Government, in ensuring the 17 goals in the report are completed?

This is the first report of its kind and it is important. We need to work on safety and security, not just on those matters raised by Deputy Cathal Crowe but because of the overarching experience. The figures are startling. People might say that the percentage of women who feel insecure or unsafe is not that high, but it is, since 1% is too high, never mind 35% or 45% of people not wishing to use public transport after dark. That is just not good enough. If I put myself in the shoes of my sister or nieces, I would not be happy with this report.