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

That is correct.

I welcome the motion brought forward by my colleague, Deputy Lahart.

The Minister has delivered for the people of south Dublin in the recent Transport 2040. They will have another mode of transport with the metro being extended, in addition to their Luas and DART lines and their quality bus corridors. However, in north Dublin, we are still faced with congestion, with chaos and with a lack of options for suburban sprawl on a broad scale. While house building is welcome, we are not seeing the delivery and the transport connectivity that people on the southside of this city have on a constant basis. It is surprising that a northside Taoiseach did not include that in his plan.

We are crippled by traffic congestion across the city and the Minister's hope and strategy of just wishing things will get better will not work. He needs to implement necessary changes. He is supposed to be the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, but with the gridlock we are seeing in the city, he is fast becoming the Minister for red lights because under his watch nothing is happening, nothing is moving and the city is at a standstill. Congestion in the capital is now costing the taxpayer €358 million per year and according to analysis made by his own Department that figure is set to rise to €2 billion by 2033. Since the introduction of the Luas cross-city line which my party and I welcome, bus journey times have increased by 110% and there have been extensive knock-on impacts, with bus services rerouted, cycle tracks cut off and chaos across the city. While Deputy Shane Ross was not the Minister at the time, there was no traffic plan for the delivery of the Luas and its haphazard management by the city council, the NTA and his Department. There is a lack of leadership in that regard. No one person is driving the changes in order that we see improved bus times.

Regrettably, the problems are not limited to roads and traffic congestion. A major factor contributing is the ailing and failing public transport system. There are more cars on the road, due in part to the fact that bus, train and other transport services are totally inefficient. For example, my office is contacted regularly by commuters on the Docklands-Maynooth rail line who describe the daily chaos experienced in trying to get to and from work due to overcrowding on the service. It is a sardine service on which they are packed in to a dangerous extent. I have raised this issue directly with the Minister through parliamentary questions. Train carriages are full to the brim and packed to capacity day in, day out, so much so that commuters often cannot physically board the trains. People trying to get to work or school must instead wait for the next service, whenever it comes, and it does not come with the same frequency as on the DART and the Luas. This is now a major health and safety problem. The problem is so dire that people regularly faint because of the congestion on carriages. We are not talking about rush hour at Grand Central Station in New York. People have reported fainting on services on the Docklands-Maynooth line on winter evenings in January and February. Irish Rail's Twitter account constantly deals with passenger concerns in that regard. I have printed off page after page of complaints which I can show to the Minister from disgruntled passengers who have witnessed this happening on trains. It cannot go on. People are being forced into their cars and how could anyone blame them? As the line serves the Docklands which is set to boom in the coming years as the economy grows, the problem will only get worse.

Under the 2040 plan it is promised to electrify the Maynooth line which I welcome, but in replies to parliamentary questions I have tabled to the Minister there is no set plan for when this project will be delivered for the people of Dublin West. I also point to Ballycoolin Industrial Estate in Dublin 15. It is one of the most developed and fastest growing industrial estates, employing thousands of people, yet there are no public transport services to the site. People living in Sandyford are looking for additional public transport options - I stress the word "options". In Ballycoolin, without a car, one has no option; one cannot get to work. It seems Dublin West has been forgotten. As I said, a new metro system in north Dublin is very welcome - the announcement of more Luas lines for south Dublin was surprising - but there is absolutely nothing for those living in Dublin West, except a light rail project for which we have no timeframe. Simple practical measures can and will make a big difference. There is little point in building train stations or Luas stops to serve a high volume of people spread over a large area if we do not have adequate car parking facilities adjacent to the stations. The Luas is connected to Broombridge station, for example, without car parking spaces, as the residents are very much at pains to point out to the Minister and everyone else. There are practical and sensible solutions that would result in more people using public transport and their cars being taken off the road if the Minister was to address the issue of congestion. Addressing safety matters and other issues for cyclists is also extremely important in increasing capacity across the city.

See this speech in context