Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I want to ask about cars and transport generally. We certainly have to encourage people onto active modes and sustainable transport. For those who need them, we have to transition to electric vehicles to a certain extent. The extent is arguable. A total of 20% of our national emissions are associated with driving. A lot of emissions are associated with electric vehicles as well as with fossil fuel vehicles. We really need to not lean on them as a solution. We need a plan for cars. We really need to look at how much car parking we provide. We must also look at traffic management and the prioritisation of certain modes.

I do not know whether any of our guests are with Dublin City Council, but it has done tremendous work in prioritising the more sustainable modes. It seems we need to go a lot further in this regard. We need to change our thinking. Historically, it has been that we need to keep traffic flowing and solve congestion. In the past there may have been an economic benefit to this. Certainly, it was felt this was a very important objective. This needs to fundamentally change if we agree that cars, whether they are electric vehicles or fossil fuel vehicles, are a problem. What is the thinking in the system with regard to traffic management and the prioritisation of active and sustainable modes of transport over the private car? I am speaking from experience. The local authority I came through is certainly on a journey. Some really good work has been done in recent years but it seems there is still a long way to go. We are still falling back on the old conventional thinking that we need to get cars through our cities. When we think like this decisions on bus lanes, cycle lanes and wider footpaths become much more difficult. I do not know whether the witnesses want to comment on this observation.