Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputies raised a variety of different issues. I will start with the last one.

As I read it, amendment No. 61 amends that section with regard to An Bord Pleanála. In section 45(19)(1)(cc), we are saying that we would also "prepare, or arrange for the preparation of, schemes for the provision of a safe and efficient network of recharging infrastructure and refuelling infrastructure for such zero to low emission vehicles as the Minister may prescribe and provide and maintain, or secure the provision and maintenance of, such a network". That amends the same section the Deputy is concerned about, if I am correct on this.

I will go back to the wider point about the BusConnects infrastructure we need to deliver. People will be aware that the Government will have real difficulty in meeting our climate change targets, particularly in transport, which is probably the most challenging area. One of the mechanisms the Government is developing is the acceleration of certain key areas, one of which is sustainable mobility. That will require some of the infrastructure we are looking for to be delivered in a very quick timeframe, especially in towns and cities throughout the country. For that to work, An Bord Pleanála will have to have a critical role because if the ordinary timeframes it takes for us to deliver infrastructure apply, for example, the cycleway to Clontarf being built at present has been in the planning system or process for almost ten years, we will have to accelerate those timeframes.

That has been recognised by the Government through a variety of different factors. We have increased the staffing within the likes of the NTA and our Department to be able to do that work. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has also recognised that An Bord Pleanála needs enhanced staffing and other resources, especially in the public planning realm and ecology, including the transport planning and marine planning side, to be able to deliver quick decisions, particularly on projects that will be central to meeting our climate targets. We have set up a special acceleration team to look at this. We are looking for projects within local authorities throughout the country that might be what could be called pathfinder projects, which can be delivered very quickly at low cost. Obviously, these have to be within our planning system and planning structures but it will require An Bord Pleanála to play its part in making sure such decisions are given very quick attention and that it has the resources in place to be able to turn around decisions. This cannot come from the top down and it cannot ignore local and public interests. It has to come from the local authorities. It has to be from the councillors themselves looking at what the examples might be in their towns, cities or villages.

That transformative approach to accelerate development will characterise where we are at present. The historical approach, which was very much based on roads and a sprawled, ever-outwards development model, will not work in a low-carbon environment. The overriding legislation behind all this is our climate law, as well as European law, which requires us to meet these targets. If we fail to do so in transport, we will have to introduce policy measures to go quicker and faster. The historical concern the Deputy has would be the case if the situation continues, but it will not be the defining characteristic.

I will briefly address the issue of idling vehicles raised by Deputy Matthews. Many of those measures, and some of the regulations, are sometimes best done at European level where, for example, new cars could have mechanisms whereby they are switched off. Certain cars already do that. However, the wider reality is, and I expect it will come up at the European Council meeting next week, Europe is moving towards a stage where there will be no new combustion engine vehicles by 2035. There has to be recognition that we are going towards better electric vehicles. It would be terrible for us if we just replaced a fossil fuel vehicle fleet with a heavy vehicle fleet that used up a lot of other resources, be those rare earths, lithium or other batteries. What the Deputy said about the need to make sure we are very efficient in our transport system is true. It is not just about replacing all of one type of car with another type of car. As the Deputy said, the characteristics of our current fleet, where almost half the private cars last year were heavy vehicles by any definition, will not work.

This Bill cannot solve all those problems. This specific amendment No. 61 relates to the EV charging infrastructure I mentioned, as well as the creation of an EV office. Those wider concerns are best addressed elsewhere.