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

Practically none. Thus, it is not impossible for us to recreate that Dublin and it would be a better Dublin.

The second point goes back to something I was saying earlier. It sounds slightly bizarre, but what would make Dublin work is Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick also working, because we have massive investment coming to Dublin, but if all the development continues to be in Dublin then the city will always be under pressure and not able to cope. It suits Dublin if we build metropolitan rail in Cork. It suits Dublin when we do metropolitan rail in Limerick. Dublin needs BusConnects in Galway. Dublin needs BusConnects in Waterford. They are not funded at the moment. Some of the projects are, but it is going to be a real challenge. Bizarrely for Dublin, we need the heavy lifting to be done by some of the other cities when it comes to an expanding population. While we need to do stuff in Dublin, we need to do stuff in those other cities too. If we take Galway, we have a pathfinder project called Cross-City Link that goes from near the hospital out by the university, through the centre and out the other side onto the Dublin road. It has been in planning for about two years now. That is like the Dublin city centre traffic management plan. There is a small amount of compulsory purchase involved, but by and large it is signage and it could be done in six months. That project is probably also important for Dublin so Galway gives a signal that it is going to go towards a modern transport system rather than everyone driving through everywhere. Strangely for Dublin, that Cross-City Link project in Galway is an example we need to get over the line because if it all happens in Dublin then the city will never be able to cope.