Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

Obviously the Bill is welcome. I would also welcome the prompt establishment of the authority which is long overdue. I believe the concept of such an authority was originally announced by the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan. That announcement anticipated a body that would have much stronger powers than what has eventually come to pass in this legislation. In November 2005 the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, set up with great fanfare a team headed by Professor Margaret O'Mahony charged with establishing a Dublin transport authority. It is only now that we are seeing this legislation. A great deal of time has been lost in the provision of public transport. The Government has used the establishment of this body as an excuse to avoid doing much about public transport.

We have had the Dublin Transportation Office. The general objectives of the new Dublin transport authority include in section 10(a) "the development of an integrated transport system which contributes to environmental sustainability and social cohesion and promotes economic progress," and in section 10(d) "increased use of the public transport system". Section 11(a) outlines that among the principal functions of the authority are to "undertake strategic planning of transport." Section 11(e) states that the authority should secure

(i) provision of public passenger transport services,

(ii) provision of public transport infrastructure,

Obviously the powers are stronger than those of the Dublin Transportation Office. However, the main function of that body, as with this body, is strategic. Many years ago the Government announced A Platform for Change which was going to do great things for public transport most of which have never been done. I was a member of the Dublin Regional Authority, when I was on South Dublin County Council. Approximately seven years ago or possibly more the DTO made a presentation on A Platform for Change to a meeting of the Dublin Regional Authority. It was stated that in a short time there would be great emphasis on the provision of additional buses by Dublin Bus. There were also medium and long-term projects. Most of those things never happened. The easiest and most practical thing to do was to make major investment into Dublin Bus and provide significant numbers of buses for it. However, that never happened. Before the last general election we had the announcement with great fanfare of Transport 21, which was going to do the devil and all for public transport. Again nothing significant has happened out of Transport 21.

I was a councillor on South Dublin County Council in 2000 when Irish Rail gave a presentation about the Kildare route project which was supposed to be completed by 2005 with extra train stations along the route, including in Lucan. I remember many years ago the then Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke, announcing the Lucan train station. It was only thanks to the Adamstown SDZ, which was adopted by South Dublin County Council, that the train station in Lucan was opened last year for the first time in 40 years, which happened just before the general election.

Will it be any different with this new authority? Is it more buck-passing to another body and more deferred local government? Will there be more studies, reports, announcements and strategic plans for way off in the future? Generally the completion dates for these projects, particularly the important ones, are after the next general election and never within the timeframe of the current Government. The most important things that need to be done do not require a Dublin transport authority. The most significant thing that could be done immediately with relatively moderate cost and very little digging up roads, which would be very practical and pragmatic, would be major investment in Dublin Bus. We should provide Dublin Bus with hundreds of extra buses, which would immediately make a great improvement to Dublin's public transport system. We also need to consider much cheaper bus fares. In order to promote public transport it needs to be affordable and available, which is not the case at the moment.

The short-term measure, the investment in Dublin Bus, that was announced by the DTO many years ago, as part of A Platform for Change never happened. The opposite has happened. The majority of the hundreds of buses promised to Dublin Bus as part of the national development plan never transpired. As a representative for Dublin Mid-West, I am aware that last October Dublin Bus was instructed to take three 25X buses off peak time journeys from Lucan to the city centre because they did not fit into the Department of Transport's interpretation of the authorisation of bus departures. Those three bus departures have been in operation for approximately three or four years. They were notified each year to the Department of Transport but it was only last year that the Department instructed Dublin Bus to take them off. Initially it was because the Department had not been properly notified and then it was something to do with competition. My view is that it is a matter of interpretation.

Something similar has happened in Swords, which has caused serious problems for people's use of public transport in Lucan and Swords. People in those areas want to use public transport. Of course they do not want to be stuck in traffic every day for an hour and a half coming into town and another hour and a half going home. However, if they are left standing at the bus stop and they have a car, the chances are that they will use it. Removing those three buses had a significant knock-on effect on people's ability to get buses from Lucan into town. We cannot wait for the Dublin transport authority to be set up to sort out that problem. The Department of Transport should find some way to allow Dublin Bus to put on those extra buses in Lucan and Swords as quickly as possible because the Department's actions are forcing people who were using buses to go back to using their cars. That is not acceptable.

The Government has dithered on public transport. It has nothing to do with the setting up of authorities, it is an ideological choice on the part of the Government. It does not want a good public transport system. It does not want to give Dublin Bus the extra buses that could make a huge difference in terms of public transport. That is the obvious solution because buses can travel from A to B in a way that no other form of public transport can do. The roads and the infrastructure are already in place. It is simply a matter of ordering the buses and putting them on the roads.

I am the Labour Party spokesperson on the environment and a key issue for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is the reduction of our carbon emissions. The Government has done nothing significant in that regard. It is all about promoting more use of cars. The changes in vehicle registration tax and motor tax encourage consumers to change from one form of consumption to another, albeit a better form of consumption. They are not moving from cars to public transport.

If there is a problem with the price of oil or with carbon emissions, a solution is available to the Government, namely, massive investment in Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. This issue does not just apply to Dublin, but Dublin is a key area in terms of the population and the level of emissions from cars in the city.

Every so often a major announcement is made with great fanfare about the metro west, the metro east or a new Luas line for some time in the future. We have the existing infrastructure in terms of Irish Rail and it is merely a matter of building on that. There would be a huge pay-off in terms of our infrastructure if, for example, we completed the Kildare route project, which was stalled because the Government did not sign the orders for it. The Government could have fast-tracked the Kildare route project if it had wanted to do so. It could have fast-tracked the interconnector from Heuston to the city centre, which would be a hugely beneficial project in terms of the number of people that could be encouraged to use public transport. It would not just help people along the suburban line from Kildare to the city centre but also those living in Cork, Portlaoise and other areas connected to Dublin city by that line. With the doubling of the rail track there would be greater capacity for more trains. The intercity trains would not be delayed by suburban trains and if we had the connector into the city centre people could travel all the way into the city. That would be a major incentive for people to use the service. The rail line could then be electrified and extra train stations provided, in addition to those planned. That is something that should have been done years ago. Will this new authority announce more Luas projects and so on rather than doing the most important functions first that would have the maximum pay-off in terms of getting people to use public transport?

I have not read the Bill in any great detail but from what I can determine there is not a huge amount in it that integrates the area of land use with the provision of public transport. There is provision in section 44(c) to allow the authority "acquire and facilitate the development of land adjacent to any public transport infrastructure where such acquisition and development contribute to the economic viability of the said infrastructure whether by agreement or by means of a compulsory purchase order made ... under the Act of 2000" — I presume that is the Planning and Development Act. There is nothing new in that. Local authorities can do that already. The Government can designate strategic development zones for that type of development around public transport nodes.

Under the new Planning and Development Act there is a provision in respect of compulsory purchase orders for different purposes, which I presume is the one referred to, but as far as I am aware, that was never used by the Government. Given that that Act has been in place since 2000, why has it not been used by the Government? Will this provision be used? I hope it will be used. I must give the benefit of the doubt but as far as I am aware the provision under the Planning and Development Act for a compulsory purchase order for various public projects has not been used to date. That does not inspire confidence.

To be fair, the previous Government introduced the Planning and Development Act which included the strategic development zones. The first one adopted in the country was in Adamstown, in Lucan, which I represent. It is a good planning tool in terms of the delivery of housing with infrastructure and, in particular, public transport. There were requirements in the Adamstown plan to the effect that with the first 1,000 houses, a train station should be provided. A train station was provided by the developers well in advance of that date and it is open, and I welcome that.

Likewise, the Kildare route project is tied in to the development of Adamstown. Therefore, houses cannot be developed beyond a certain stage in Adamstown unless the Kildare route project is complete. That is welcome because there is something in place now to force both developers and the Government to implement the Kildare route project because at a certain stage the developers will not be able to build more houses unless that project is developed, and that will affect their pocket. It will affect everybody because we need to develop housing for families to live in. That strategic development zone is something that must be used to a much greater extent by the Government.

I am aware there are other strategic development zones. Perhaps there is a need for an audit of the strategic development zones that have been designated so far because I am aware some problems have arisen with others. The Adamstown one worked out well and was an excellent project by the council and everyone involved, but I am aware problems have arisen. Now that this area has been examined and we know it works, the Government should consider whether improvements need to be made to that process. That is the way forward in terms of planning and development to ensure we get public transport with development of housing and that housing is developed in the right areas.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government published draft new planning guidelines and spoke about amending the Act, which would mean that councillors' decisions would have to be consistent with the guidelines, but that would not be a very strong provision. A much more significant measure would be needed along the lines of the section in the Planning and Development Act on the strategic development zones, which clearly sets out what should be in the those zones. That is what is needed in terms of amending our planning laws.

There is huge potential in the upcoming development plans for county councils to rezone land wherever they wish. South Dublin County Council will begin dealing with its new county development plan next year and, therefore, it will be adopted by 2010. I presume the same is the case in other local authorities, but what is to stop them from doing many unsustainable land zonings without regard to this? Will this authority be set up in time and will it be able to do anything? I do not believe so.

An attempt was made in my area recently to vary the county development plan in part of County Dublin. I was opposed to that rezoning and thankfully it was defeated because it would have been unsustainable. It was not near any public transport nodes. It would have led to urban sprawl in a rural area and issues about connections to water, waste facilities and so on would have arisen.

Some months ago the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government provided information about a survey he had done on climate change. The information in the public domain indicated that 81% of people were in favour of carbon taxes, which I found hard to believe. I sought further information and eventually managed to get the full details of that survey. When people were asked whether they wanted to pay 8% on car fuel — and other types of fuel — almost 50% were opposed to it. In reality the opposition was probably even greater because people were asked about carbon taxes and other specifics in the context of a survey exploring reaction to the horrors of climate change. It was notable that when it came to the specifics, almost the majority of those polled were against the particular percentage on car fuel prices about which they were asked.

People want to do something about the environment, use public transport and do what is right. However, they also want fairness. It is not fair for the Government to be talking about slapping on carbon taxes for the use of cars when it has not, in the past ten years that it has been in office, provided public transport options. The reality is that if carbon taxes were introduced in the manner that seems to be anticipated by the Minister, they would almost certainly not be fair. In particular, they would impact on families and on people who are poor and living in isolated communities who do have access to good public transport.

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