Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mar is eol don Tánaiste is cathair álainn dhátheangach í cathair na Gaillimhe atá ar thairseach na Gaeltachta is mó sa tír. Tá stádas mar Phríomhchathair Chultúir na hEorpa bainte amach aici. Tá réimse leathan ócáidí leagtha amach don bhliain sin agus tá an t-uafás airgid poiblí geallta nó, ar ndóigh, caite chun an stádas sin a chur chun críche. It has, of course, two third level institutions embedded within the life of the city and a world class tech cluster. I mention only some of the positive advantages, many of which are outlined in the national planning framework, which I will come to shortly.

Notwithstanding that it is a vibrant, beautiful and bilingual city, one I am very proud of and want to see develop, it faces the most acute challenges in regard to the housing crisis, affordable and public housing and the lack of student accommodation, together with serious traffic congestion, as a direct result of the failure to build housing and the lack of planning. I draw this matter to the attention of the Tánaiste. I am glad he is here because I also drew this to his attention on 17 January of this year when I pointed out that Galway not alone faces these challenges but there is no master plan. The Tánaiste surprised me on that occasion by telling me that while he often disagrees with me, he agreed with virtually everything I said and he did not believe in leaving things to the vagaries of the market. Since then, the national planning framework has been published and, notwithstanding any problems around its publicity, it uses the terms "sustainable development" and "regional development", and refers to the development of five cities in particular, including Galway.

To focus on sustainable development, there is no reason Galway should have the problems it has and which have become chronic. We have any amount of public land at the docks, at Ceannt Station, on the Dyke Road and at the airport, but we have no master plan. The framework development plan the Government has published states that the five cities, including Galway, will grow by 50% and that most of that development will have to be within the footprint of the city. Almost six months after I first asked him, I ask the Tánaiste again to please take a hands-on approach in regard to Galway. We need a master plan for the common good, not for the developer. As we speak, parts of the docks and parts of Ceannt Station are being developed and other land is sitting idle, while we have a serious housing crisis.

In addition to housing, practically every day in this Chamber we hear about climate change, on which Ireland was ranked second last in Europe in the latest report. We hear the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport talk about taking cars off the road. It is time to look at light rail for Galway. Some 22,000 people signed a petition that I was in charge of in Galway over an eight-week period. They are way ahead of us with regard to sustainable solutions and in their realisation that we have to do something to reduce carbon emissions.

To conclude, my question is whether we will have a master plan and, included within that, at least a study in regard to light rail.

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