Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

A television advertisement that has been running for a while shows a man pulling up in his car to ask an elderly country man for directions. At the end of the advertisement, the elderly man tells him: "If I was going there, I would not start from here." Such a comment could be applied to this country's transport difficulties — if one was looking on from afar, one would not want to start from here. The level of congestion and overcrowding on our roads has never been as bad. Members of the bus unions in Dublin have told me about the problems they face in trying to get from A to B at certain times of the day and year.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell spoke about the difficulties of many people in getting to school. We do not seem to be able to tackle the many problems of this nature. The work being done on our roads network is adding to these problems. Many people in my constituency are suffering as a result of the state of the M50, which is a giant car park. This is an issue that divides people. The lucky people who are not stuck in traffic every day do not really understand the grief and frustration experienced every morning, day in day out, by those who are trying to get on with their lives by going to work, dropping the kids to school or going to the shops but instead face the difficulties I have mentioned.

There are some good proposals in Transport 21. My colleague, Deputy Cuffe, spoke about the redevelopment of the derelict Navan railway line. There is enough money in the country to fund such reconstruction of infrastructure. The pursuit of that proposal is way down the track, however — no pun intended. In the case of the western rail corridor, which is in the local area of the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, the existing line is there to be developed. It seems that we will not actually move ahead with it for another ten, 20 or 30 years, which does not make sense to me. The development of the Navan line would assist many people in the Meath-Dublin area who have to cope with the giant car parks I have mentioned. Their lives would be transformed overnight if we were to use the available infrastructure to its full potential, but that is not being done. We are continuing to facilitate the private car as a means of transport, rather than seeking to address the overall problems in this regard.

Greater emphasis needs to be placed on public transport. Other speakers have referred to the Minister's announcement of a further 100 buses for Bus Átha Cliath as an example of the Government's success in this area. This is another example of delays in keeping a promise. We were told that the delays were caused by the desire of the Progressive Democrats to privatise a larger section of the bus market. Many difficulties are continuing while people are crying out for more public transport. It is ridiculous that people have to sit in lanes of traffic while bus corridors are not being used.

Some Members spoke about the Luas. I tried to take the Luas on Sunday night and the machine at the station gave me a ticket. However, the service stops at 11.30 p.m, which is ridiculous. Sixty people were standing at the tramway in Abbey Street and the machine kept churning out tickets on receipt of money, but the intelligent sign system was not working and did not inform us what was going on. Such a vital piece of infrastructure should be used until 2 a.m or even 3 a.m. when people need it.

There is an over-reliance on trucks and less freight is being moved by rail. There is a possibility of using rail for freight from our ports and this might take some of the HGVs off our already congested roads. For truck drivers who currently transport our valuable freight, it is unacceptable that proper facilities and services are unavailable on motorways.

I do not see any major improvements coming from this incompetent plan that is being put forward. In fact, things look like they will get worse.

See this speech in context