Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to mislead the House in any way. My comments on the transport element of the mitigation plan indicated that we would be submitting our contribution to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for consideration in the overall plan, which would be published in the summer of 2017. That being said, I understand there will be a period of public consultation in the interim to consider what is proposed and the consequences for our economy, as well as allowing stakeholders to make their views known.

I am absolutely clear that public transport has a crucial role to play in alleviating the consequences of climate change. That is why we are delivering Luas cross-city which we aim to have up and running by 2017 to deliver an additional 10 million journeys. That is why we put more than €100 million into CIE before Christmas to maintain existing public transport, and with the funding we will deliver new buses to the Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus fleets this year to meet the needs to which the Deputy referred.

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