Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that we do not have officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage but, notwithstanding that, it is important to raise the issue of local authorities again. I know from some of the previous contributions that some councils are performing better than others when it comes to active transport and public transport. I have a lot of sympathy for those who come to me all of the time saying we need more stick and less carrot when it comes to local authorities. I would like to see what the figures are. Reference was made to 1,000 projects. I would have thought that there have to be the same problems in terms of public acceptance across local authorities. Why are some getting it right and others are not? There must be more than what is going on with local objections. I think there is an issue with some local authorities.

When it comes to transport, everybody is affected. That is why the whole issue of EVs and how prohibitive some people find them is an important point, but it is not the only point because it is all public funding. When I look at my city of Galway, about 25% of people commute by walking. I am looking at all of the percentages of households across Dublin who do not own a car. That is not just to do with access to transport, it is to do with poverty rates as well in those areas. Everybody pays tax. Do the witnesses feel they have got the balance right in terms of ensuring that the most vulnerable across every sector are catered for when it comes to the public purse paying for grants and for the infrastructure so that we are getting it right for people in rural areas? Even with the best will in the world, Connecting Ireland, which is an amazing project, will still only bring us from 53% to 70% of coverage for public transport across the country. There is still that segment who will not have access and who, let us be honest, are probably not going to hop on a bike either. There must be some realism there. How do we get it right for those people? Do the witnesses feel they have got it right for them, and for people who are impacted by funding going into electric vehicles, for example, when it is public services that they need for their areas?