Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister started well but then reverted to his script. I refer the Minister to the position of management in Galway that there is no demand for park-and-ride facilities either, notwithstanding that the elected members included as an objective in the city development plan 2005 the provision of such facilities. Management believe we must wait for demand. I am asking Deputy Ross, as Minister with responsibility for this area, and as a man with imagination and determination, to consider the provision of light rail for Galway as the most imaginative and sustainable solution to the traffic mess there, in addition to park-and-ride facilities and an integrated public transport system. Unless he does this, he will be only paying lip-service to sustainable development, which is enshrined in the draft national planning framework, and lip-service to our commitments to reduce emissions and take cars off our roads.

Earlier, the Minister forcibly told a Deputy that he wants to take cars off the roads. We have stale male - I use those words advisedly - in respect of leadership in Galway in terms of a solution. What we need is an imaginative green way forward that will put Galway on the map and on a level with all other European cities, some of them of equal size.

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