Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment and thank Deputy Troy and the Fianna Fáil Party on bringing this motion before Members this evening.

The Minister and the Minister of State might ask why am I talking about issues in Dublin. A pile of people from Kerry work in Dublin. Kerry people, myself included, travel here on business and for different reasons. I have seen a lot of changes over the past number of years when it comes to transport in Dublin city and in the short time that I have, I want to ask Deputy Troy and Fianna Fáil to show an amount of interest in the rest of the country that is equal to their interest in Dublin. They will do that because we have other transport-related problems. For instance, in my native county, we have problems with access and different issues but I will talk about that in a moment. I merely want to thank Deputy Troy for bringing this issue to a head here tonight because it is terribly important.

I want to compliment a very important group of people, that is, those who provide our public transport service here in Dublin. I refer to those who drive the buses, the trams and the DART. All these different modes of access are terribly important. The staff work really diligently, sometimes in difficult circumstances, and I compliment them on that.

A short number of years ago, when coming from Kerry one did not get choked up until one hit the Red Cow roundabout but it has become so bad that now one is below in Naas when the traffic starts to get backed up. Something has to be done, whether it is trying to encourage motorists to use public transport or trying to get them to take out the bicycle. We all have our bikes which we use in the best way we can. We have to really knuckle down to this problem because, if one reads the statistics, the population in the greater Dublin area is expected to grow by 22% to 1.8 million by 2030 and by 26% to 700,000 in the mid-east region alone, including Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. This will lead to a chaotic situation. I call on the Minister and the Minister of State, and on the Government, as Fianna Fáil is doing, to put measures in place now that will act in a progressive and workmanlike way to deal with the problem because the Minister and Minister of State are in charge and it is up to them at this time to put measures in place to ensure we will be able to cater for this great amount of people.

While I again thank Deputy Troy, coming back to the rest of the country I ask that it does not all happen inside the Red Cow roundabout. I accept the population is increasing in Dublin but we want to see our part of the country, rural Ireland, and our areas progress and grow and be attractive for employers and to be attractive for those who want to invest. That will not happen unless we have proper road networks and proper access and unless our towns are not choked, because that is the case at present where I am from. We lack parking and bypasses and are looking for our share of the investment. I do not want to see it all happen in Dublin. Quite simply, the world does not revolve around Dublin.

I very much support Deputy Troy in what he is doing here tonight and thank him for bringing the motion before the House. I call on the Minister and Minister of State to ensure that they will act accordingly and ensure that the people will not be completely choked up in another couple of years' time. It has changed so much in the past five or six years. It has got so busy it is literally chaos trying to move around Dublin city at present. I ask them to try to do something about it.

See this speech in context