Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 June 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022-2042: National Transport Authority

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have a few issues to raise. One relates to the road objective in chapter 13, which outlines the strategic importance of the M50. An area between the N4 and N3, close to the toll bridge, is regarded as having inadequate resilience. The plan states: "The NTA, in collaboration with TII and the relevant local authorities, will seek the development and construction of an appropriate road link between the N3 and N4 national roads, which can provide a satisfactory alternative in the event of incidents arising on the M50 between Junctions 6 and 7." The problem is that it will not only be used for that. Eleven possible routes have been identified. Eight go through Liffey Valley, which is a special amenity area. One, which was formerly identified in the Fingal county development plan and the Kildare development plan, was removed in the review of the development plan following significant involvement of local communities. St. Catherine's Park and Lucan Demesne is a relatively recent development, being approximately 30 years old. The land was purchased by the State and jointly developed by three local authorities. The communities on either side raised funds for playgrounds and other amenities.

The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly submitted concerns, citing climate action as an issue, about the development of new roads in the Liffey Valley area. Councillors removed the indicative line from the Kildare and Fingal county development plans in 2017. A third world war would erupt if there was an intention to take away a park that people feel invested in and that is heavily used. A road there would bisect the park and make it unusable. There are 11 possible locations, but none of them is easy.

The second issue I wish to raise relates to timelines and low-hanging fruit. DART+ is to be extended to Kilcock. It is described as a new station west of Maynooth. In fact, there will be a depot 350 m east of Kilcock. Rail will be laid all the way up to that depot. The only thing that will not be available when the depot is developed is a place for people to access the train. That is a very short distance. There is a project under way with a railway audit and separate process. This could be combined with a small extension under a different process, which it could be done in conjunction with. It would connect quite a sizable town that has developed on both the Meath and Kildare side.

There is confusion about whether the station 1.1 km west of the existing station in Sallins is a new station or additional to the existing one. Clarity on that would be useful. The population in the area of Naas, Sallins, Kill and Johnstown in 2016 was in excess of 42,000. One would wish to keep that traffic out of the city. It is a commuter area. There is a fair argument to be made for an extension to Newbridge too. It is 24 miles, or 39 km, from Dublin. In 2016, it had a population of 22,000. People drive to the Sallins station and park their cars there. The matter requires consideration.

I have raised the DART tunnel since the 1990s. A timeline is essential if we are going to have a networked service. The Phoenix Park tunnel is useful but it has limitations.

Regarding BusConnects, railways will be key, but the workhorse of the public transport system is bus services because they are much more permeable. A combination of both is important. There is an issue relating to reliability of bus services, whether Go-Ahead, Bus Éireann or Dublin Bus. People will not use public transport to go to work or wherever else they want to go if they feel they cannot get back. There is a significant issue at the moment. I know it is an operational issue rather than strategic. If there is to be a significant investment, it has to be reliable. I know I keep annoying the NTA about this. I experienced one of the first BusConnects routes and there are problems. It is not working in some locations, though it is working well in other areas. Lessons can be learned from the roll-outs and how quickly aspects that are not working can be rectified. The witnesses know about the issues I have raised with them on a number of occasions.

The population of County Kildare is now 246,000. It greatly exceeds the population of Limerick but it tends not to be noticed because it does not have a city in the middle. There are many commuters. County Meath has the same issue. They are rapidly growing areas. When the Dublin Transportation Initiative was embarked on all those years ago, the population of Kildare was half its current size. Not having a consolidation in the centre was not an ideal spatial scenario. The reality is that it is there and has to be provided for. Much additional traffic is being generated by the growth in population.

The Sallins bypass is a great benefit to Sallins but it has had knock-on consequences on towns such as Clane. AA Roadwatch now mentions traffic jams in places that did not have them previously, where the Sallins bypass and the roads from it, or the roads to Maynooth, are acting as a national secondary route more than anything else. That requires additional consideration because it has already manifested.

As we are looking at a strategy with a 20-year horizon, consideration must be given and factored in at this point as to how it can be dealt with.

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