Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

If we are to get real, we will heed the comments from the National Transport Authority in yesterday's committee. Its representatives conceded we do not have the resources for that bus network and most of our best engineers are stuck doing outer urban and inter-urban motorways, adding to the congestion problem rather than addressing this major problem that we have to introduce cycling facilities and buses in our cities. Nothing is happening in that regard and the budget fell 40% in the past year. That is the reality. Similarly, if we are serious about electric vehicles, let us start on our car park outside and put in 20 or 50 charging points. Let us do the same in every supermarket and public car park to show we are for real.

We have all these plans but the reality is our emissions are rising in every sector at speed. The Taoiseach recognised that we are climate laggards but it is not the people who are climate laggards; it is our administrative system. We need to change the political and administrative system here to live up to the promise that exists for the Irish people in this transition.

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