John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The Minister cuts a lonely, isolated, abandoned figure tonight. There are no Fine Gael Deputies to back him up on a pretty serious debate in Private Members' time about traffic congestion in Dublin. There is a memorable line in the movie "Lincoln", in which Daniel Day-Lewis portrayed the character of Abraham Lincoln. In his struggle to achieve the requisite critical votes required to outlaw slavery, he exhorts his colleagues to greater efforts on his behalf. He says, "I am the President of the United States, clothed with immense power". The Minister has considerable powers and authority vested in him, although they may not be akin to those of the President of the United States. However, instead of using these powers to bring about change and to get things moving in our capital after an historic investment in its transport infrastructure, and instead of acting like the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, he has become the Minister for standstill.

We should not target the Minister exclusively however. This is a Government of standstill when it comes to traffic congestion and chaos. I warned the Minister about this the last time this topic was raised during a Topical Issues debate two months ago. The Minister ridiculed my prediction that the longer carriages would create traffic chaos on the quays. In retrospect the Minister was right and I was wrong because the longer trams have not just caused chaos on the quays, but have created traffic challenges across the city. It has created challenges for pedestrians, motorists, commercial vehicles and other modes of public transport.

In retrospect responsibility for the chaos being experienced in the city reflects on a number of Ministers and their Departments, not just on Deputy Ross. The Taoiseach and Minister for Finance were very eager to elbow Deputy Ross out of the picture and to ensure that the Taoiseach's media communications showed footage of the two of them which was copied onto the Fine Gael website and Twitter feed. Where are they now? Where have they been for the last few months? It also reflects on the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government who has authority over the four Dublin local authorities that have a role in this matter. It reflects on the Minister for Justice and Equality who has responsibility for An Garda Síochána including the traffic corps, which has been overlooked in the present debacle and for which no role has been found. It is not just about the city, it is about the suburbs, the M50 and the commuter belt routes into the capital. Most of all it reflects on the entire Government collectively, which signed off on a national development plan that offers absolutely no solutions to the traffic congestion facing Dubliners in the here and now.

We on this side of the House are proud of the role we played in developing infrastructure in this city, from the port tunnel to the incredible roads infrastructure including the M50 and its extensions. The recovery has been based on this infrastructure. That is acknowledged in the introduction to the national development plan. The Government has set out some grand plans, many of which are rehashed, but none of them addresses the congestion that is growing in the city in the here and now. It is like being stranded on a desert island and the Government sending a supertanker for the rescue. Such a tanker gets stranded way out on the horizon, far from reach, when what is needed are some speed boats, sail boats or even canoes to help get us off the island. The national development plan offers nothing to commuters, cyclists, walkers, drivers or public transport users today, tomorrow or in the immediate future. A child born today will not use any of the proposed transport infrastructure until he or she is ready for post-primary school. They may be going to college before some of the projects are completed, if they ever are.

Congestion is costing €350 million annually. What plans does the Minister have to relieve congestion in Dublin in the short term? What plans does he have to relieve congestion on the M50? How does he propose to address the fact that Dublin Bus journey times have increased by 110% in the last three months? What steps has he and the Government taken to co-ordinate the work of the more than 40 traffic agencies which serve the city? What measures does he have in mind to fill the gap while we wait for the infrastructure on the horizon? The Luas account has tweeted 70 times since 1 February to apologise for various faults. Trams are overcrowded, sometimes dangerously so. People in my constituency are able to see the M50 but getting onto it is a completely different matter. What tangible proposals does the Minister have to address the fact that the majority of our quality bus corridors account for only 30% of their routes? Why has the Fine Gael-led Government abandoned large swathes of Dublin in its national development plan proposals?

Last year the Dáil unanimously approved my Private Members' motion for a traffic advisory council made up of all stakeholders. Why has nothing been done about that? Whose decision was it to allow 27 bus routes to be changed in a series of reactive measures and whose decision is it to emasculate Dublin Bus in the midst of the Luas cross city debacle? If the Minister is to avoid the title of "standstill" we need to hear how he and his Government colleagues intend to deal with the enormous gulf which has opened up between practical initiatives and measures which are needed now and the supertanker of infrastructure which is out on the horizon.

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