Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and I commend Deputy Lahart on bringing it forward to the Dublin Transport Authority's advisory council. Kildare is a commuter county and I am a Deputy for Kildare North. A recent article in the Leinster Leaderreferred to the area as "a bed for the night" because at peak times on most weekday mornings, traffic is tailed back from Heuston Station to the Leixlip, Maynooth, Celbridge and Kilcock interchanges. That is something that needs to be changed. We should consider increased capital investment under two headings, namely, public transport and infrastructure.

Since being elected to the Dáil, I have consistently pressed for better public transport services. To this end, I have met various stakeholders, including Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and the National Transport Authority. We need additional bus and train services, as well as extra park-and-ride facilities. We also need to examine the inclusion of a rapid public transport service which is not currently there. That would obviously assist greatly in getting people from A to B. We should also look at improved infrastructure, such as a road linking the M4 to the M7. Currently, 5% of vehicles that come onto the M50 after the M1 only follow it through to the airport interchange. That is a significant statistic, so we also need to consider an outer ring road.

Traffic congestion is causing major problems for the environment and for public health, including stress. It also reduces the impact people are having in carrying out their daily work. Commuters from North Kildare to Dublin are currently spending four hours in their vehicles per day. We need to deal with this as a matter of urgency.

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