Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I fail to see how we will tackle climate emissions when that is the reaction we get. If the people who have to make the decisions, who are often local councillors, knew they had more support for these projects from those people who see the benefit in them, that might assist them in trying to make a difficult decision.

Mr. Jose talked about the ambition in the greater Dublin area strategy, and we all have a higher ambition for public transport such that we would all like to see more rail lines, Luas lines and bus lines, but certain structural projects take a lot of time and money. They also span cross-governmental periods, with consistent support and funding needed. While I agree we should have higher targets and ambition to deliver these projects more quickly, we will lose faith in all systems if somebody says a project will be complete within five years knowing that it will not happen in that timeframe. We have to run the risk of putting a date on a project against the capacity constraints that exist within its planning, design and construction, with consultants to be engaged and so on. All these factors take time. I think Mr. Jose is correct that we should have greater ambition to do things faster and in greater volumes, given we know we have to move even though transport feeds in to our climate chaos, but we have to balance that against being realistic about the timeline for a project.