Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Lahart, for raising an important motion. The net point from what my colleagues have said is that we need a vision and a plan. We cannot keep hearing the excuses about reviews and the long term from the Department in respect of what the Minister is planning to do.

Generally, we need to look at Dublin as it is growing. We are seeing vast urban sprawl. Dublin, as a city and county, will become a county of Leinster. Effectively, Leinster is sprawling to the extent that Dublin will encompass its whole environs. That is a big problem.

We need to look at our local authorities. In particular, Dublin City Council needs to examine increased intensity of development within the context of Dublin city, such that development is not all about a concentric building of transport infrastructure outside the city. Within the city at present we need to meet the infrastructural deficit for the people living in suburban areas who have no infrastructure to get to work or to commute.

This is a crisis around quality of life and the transport deficit. Moreover, the cost of getting to work is excessive. Cycling has been a major failure in recent years. People who want to cycle and embrace healthy living are left with poorly-planned cycle lanes and are left to compete against the biggest road users, that is, the buses. That is a major failure of planning. We need to utilise our canal network to extend cycle lanes to all suburban areas. It would not involve a major cost.

We also need to examine the commuter line in my constituency of Dublin West. I am referring to the Maynooth line. Commuters are like sardines in the morning. Irish Rail, the Department and whoever is responsible have failed to provide extra carriages at increased frequency despite a population equivalent to that of any city relative to Dublin. In my area, people cannot get to work without being in complete congestion or moving in conditions that are beyond humane.

We need to look at costs and the infrastructural kick-back that has to occur in the context of improving public finances. Moreover, the Minister needs to work with his Government colleagues, including Deputy Coveney, if he is still in his current Department, to examine the planning infrastructure in Dublin. It is not all about building concentric transport patterns within Leinster; it is about how we can have greater intensity of development within the city itself. It should not all be about massive capital plans. We need to deliver for those who have no transport because there is a deficit and it is affecting their ability to live and work within the city boundary.

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