Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate the concern expressed by my colleague, Deputy Matthews, and, perhaps, reinforced by the Minister. The NRA is still referenced in legislation. Perhaps we should look at changing the term because we think about transport in a much more holistic sense now and primary legislation should reflect this.

On the general grouping of amendments, the thrust is to give the TII power to erect variable speed cameras. We should probably look to give this power to other road authorities as well as the TII so that we move beyond national roads to other roads. Local authorities should also have this power in the Bill. Is the intent of the legislation prescriptive with regard to traffic flow or is it broader than this? There are all kinds of reasons we might have variable speed limits, including safety, noise reduction and air quality emissions.

This might be the section of the Bill where we could look at a national kilometre reduction target as other countries have introduced. We have one in the climate action plan that is specific to fossil fuel vehicles. Other countries are applying such a target to all vehicles. If we are to be true to the policy approach of avoid, shift and improve, we should try to reduce the number of kilometres driven throughout the State. This is being done in other jurisdictions. It would probably fit into this section of the legislation.