Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his constructive suggestions. Congestion is a feast that keeps on giving. It must be wonderful to be a transport spokesperson or spokesperson on Dublin in the opposition and wonder what to have a go at on a given day. One could talk about congestion every day until kingdom come and one would still find problems. We admit that it is not optimal. There are problems with congestion and it is easy to tackle it from the Opposition. The Government is not ashamed of the strong measures it has taken to relieve congestion. It is a little odd that when we do something right at Christmas, the complaint becomes, "Why not do it all year round?" rather than, "Well done, it is working at Christmas". It is a short and sharp attempt to tackle the traffic challenge around Christmas. Thankfully, it is successful even if there still is congestion. The Deputy acknowledges it and I am grateful to him for that.

It is a matter of Garda enforcement. While we welcome what the gardaí are doing, it would be difficult for them to do it all year round. I guess that is because of resources. I do not know because Garda enforcement is not in my portfolio. However, the Garda makes an extra special effort with extra manpower on the city traffic flow and it tackles that with some success, but I assume those resources must be deployed elsewhere or are not available during the rest of the year. I congratulate the Garda on what it has been doing around Christmas. I share the Deputy's aspiration that we could have perfection or near perfection all the time, but we will not get that in respect of the traffic flow and congestion in Dublin for some time to come. That does not mean we are not tackling it; we are doing that constructively.

Operation Open City aims to help people get about their day's business, and enjoy the seasonal festivities, by facilitating the movement of public transport in Dublin and minimising traffic disruption to the general public through high visibility and enforcement activity. The operation is led each year by An Garda Síochána. A number of different agencies are involved in supporting the work of the Garda such as the National Transport Authority, NTA, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, the Dublin local authorities, transport providers and the business community. However, the issue of congestion in our cities, while it may become more acute over the Christmas period, is a challenge all year round. As can be seen from Operation Open City each Christmas, that challenge requires a multi-agency response. I assure the Deputy that such an approach is being adopted in Dublin city and the wider greater Dublin area.

The NTA, Dublin City Council and TII, in conjunction with public transport operators, are progressing various measures to ensure efficient functioning of transport within the city centre. These measures can be found in the NTA's transport strategy for the greater Dublin area, as well as the 2015 Dublin city centre transport study which was prepared by the city council and the NTA. Not surprisingly, a key thrust of both is to significantly improve public transport infrastructure and services, as well cycling and walking facilities in the city. A number of recently completed projects have served to improve both capacity and quality of service. These include the opening of Luas cross city last year, the reopening of the Phoenix Park tunnel for commuter trains to and from Kildare at the end of 2016, the introduction earlier this year of ten minute DART services, investment in cycle routes and public bike sharing schemes and the renewal and expansion of the PSO bus fleets.

This week, new timetables came into operation across the commuter rail network, which provide for extended services throughout the day. Next year, the PSO bus fleet in the city will increase by approximately 70 and the fleet has expanded by 17% in the past couple of years. The Luas green line capacity enhancement project will continue in 2019 with the delivery of extended trams expected toward the end of the year.

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