Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

----- as they may wonder why I have been in the basement for the past four years.

The next speaking slot is my own. I want to turn to the Climate Change Advisory Council first. It states that it is critical to complete this very important document this year. Obviously, it will not be passed in this Oireachtas term as we are going into an election. There will be the formation of a government and a programme for government. Perhaps, a different government comes back which has different ideas on a national planning framework, and it all goes back into the mix again. The critical areas which the Climate Change Advisory Council has been concentrating on are compact growth, renewable energies and it also highlights a lack of definition of transport-oriented development, TOD, in the national planning framework document. We had long discussions on TOD in the planning Bill, where I had put forward a definition of TOD. Would the Climate Change Advisory Council share with the committee what it considers TOD to be? There is one train of thought which says it should be high-capacity, high frequency, high level and almost heavy rail transit whereas others would be of the view that it can represent anything from safe walking ways, cycling and active travel and, of course, public transport buses and trains, etc. Can the council share with the committee its definition of what TOD should be?