Ms Rachel Cahill:

I will start and then I will ask my colleague Ms Fox to join in the response, particularly around the design and what it looks like in practice.

Independent travel for young people and children is really part of this conversation and this narrative, given the role of family and the importance of it. Consider cycling for instance, and children cycling to school.

Much is said about safe cycling, segregated cycling and safety for children, which is all important. The NTA does fantastic work on safe cycling to schools. The #andshecycles campaign is for schoolgirls in particular. It interviews them about challenges and barriers for them when cycling to school. It is powerful and impactful. It is two minutes long and I recommend that everyone looks at it. As we mentioned earlier, the school uniform and allowing girls to wear trousers is part of the conversation.

Children travelling on public transport is easier in the cities than in more rural areas. My children are both in secondary school. We are lucky enough to live near the DART so they travel on it. Many schoolchildren use buses in the city. It is much more difficult in rural areas. Cars are required in many cases. Cycling could come into play if the children or parents feel safe.

Before I hand over to Ms Fox, an interesting thing to come out of our research was the promotion of more sustainable forms of transport because of climate change. Children come home to their families and talk about climate change. They raise the travel behaviours in their households and how that contributes to climate change or not. The research showed that the children are key to everything. They learn in schools, come home, chat with their parents and their parents say that they are right. That is an important aspect, which goes back to education of kids in schools. Does Ms Fox want to refer to family-friendly design and what she is doing with regard to the Luas to Finglas and MetroLink?