James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I come to the Chamber as living proof of the failures in the transport system, as someone who came into politics through public transport campaigns and who still commutes daily into the city centre from north Kildare, specifically Sallins. People often ask me whether I still commute by public transport now that I am a Member of the Dáil. I say I would love to but very often cannot do so, one of the simple reasons being I very often have commitments in the evening in other parts of the constituency. In cities such as London or Paris one might be able to get on a tram or a train, travel into the city centre, go from A to B, B to C and C and D and eventually get home, D to E, by connecting lines. Unfortunately, in my constituency and anywhere in Dublin, that is very difficult to do.

Not so long ago I repeatedly asked questions in this Chamber about public transport issues. I have received some bizarre replies. I asked questions about the industrial relations disputes at Bus Éireann and Irish Rail, to which the Taoiseach gave me a very nostalgic, self-congratulatory answer about how he had launched the Luas cross-city line with great fanfare a number of years previously. It was slightly bizarre. I am not sure whether he would take ownership of the planning fiasco that has erupted around it. The Minister told me in response to another question I had asked that he could not possibly be responsible for operational issues. I remind him that those operational issues were the ten-minute DART and the Phoenix Park tunnel - hardly, I would have thought, operational issues with which a Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport would be unfamiliar. These are the flagship projects in the greater Dublin area.

Going back to my experience, in the morning I can travel into Dublin city through the Phoenix Park tunnel, which is a fantastic facility which I use regularly. I travel from Sallins through the Phoenix Park tunnel, disembark at Pearse Station and walk around the corner. Unfortunately, in the evening I must walk, hop, skip or jump across to Heuston Station to get home because the Phoenix Park tunnel has a one-way system. It is not used at rush hour, off-peak or at weekends; therefore, it is essentially halfway there. Like the curate's egg, it is good in parts but spoiled on the whole. I am not sure whether the interconnector is included in the 2040 plan launched with great fanfare in Sligo last week.

I heard Deputy Micheál Martin talk about the DART underground project. It is the missing link in the Dublin transport system. It is what would enable us all to make the connected journeys. I was in London recently where I marvelled at the transport system in place. The Minister often criticises my party, but Fianna Fáil, when it was in Government, spent €500 million on feasibility studies of boring, drill holes and very advanced planning for the DART underground project, all of which was abandoned when the Government came to office. We are still not quite sure whether it is in or out of the current system. I recently submitted parliamentary questions about rolling stock and we have heard Deputy Jack Chambers talk about capacity on many lines such as those serving Maynooth and Sallins. According to the responses given to my parliamentary questions, we know that the Minister has not spent a single cent on rolling stock in the time he has been in office or for the past three years. We need to tackle this problem which we need to take seriously and we need to do so rapidly.

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