Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and all of the witnesses. As Mr. Lawlor said, the review is a real opportunity for us to revisit our climate targets, to revisit the plan in its entirety and to refocus ourselves on this increasingly important topic and the steps that we need to take to achieve our climate action plan and its goals.

I will make a couple of comments on the submissions. The IPI spoke about how important it is for the revised wind energy guidelines to be published as soon as possible. That is a message for us here in the committee to relay to the Minister and I hear the institute loud and clear on that.

The OPR is talking about spatial data and precise linking of targets, and how important that is to be able to measure the impact this is having. That is something we need to take on board.

The Climate Action Advisory Council, CAAC, the climate action group, spoke, in particular, about the importance of looking at brownfield sites. I suppose city edge in Dublin is an example of where we are looking at a brownfield site and bringing it to fruition in terms of new development. We need to do more of that. It is about identifying those viable sites to do it.

The National Transport Authority obviously plays a crucial and strategic role when it comes to servicing new planning developments, the forward planning, whether that is for new strategic development zones, SDZs, or strategic housing developments, SHDs, but also in encouraging in the here and now people out of their cars, onto public transport and bikes or out walking. In this regard, we have seen the success that BusConnects has brought, the success of the 24-hour bus routes and the massive success of the fare reductions on public transport in achieving that. I have stated at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications previously, but let me reiterate, that in my constituency of Dublin Mid-West, we have embraced public transport and our problem is we do not have enough of it. By the time buses on the C1 and C2 routes hit The Pennyhill in Lucan at peak times, they are already full. The C3 and C4 are full when they hit Lucan Village. From a rail perspective, more capacity is needed on our train lines. In particular, I see it at Adamstown train station. The car park is packed in the mornings. It is fantastic. We need more capacity. We so badly need a link between Ireland's largest industrial estate, Greenogue industrial estate, and Hazelhatch train station, which is approximately a seven-minute drive away. The orbital route was supposed to serve it. I can see Mr. Creegan going through it in his mind. We have that in a plan but the problem is that plan is sitting on a shelf at this stage. It is not possible because of the impediment of the approach to the humpback bridge in Hazelhatch. These are foreseeable challenges. We are investing hugely in this area. What do we need to do to invest to make these things happen to increase capacity on our bus routes and train lines and to get the commuter link between Newcastle Village and Greenogue to Hazelhatch completed?