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

I have some suggestions for ways we could use those bonds to invest in long-term projects that will yield a substantial return. Yesterday, I raised with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the possibility of a metro loop on the southside of Dublin. Rather than stopping the underground in Charlemont Street or Ranelagh, it could be extended to Terenure, Templeogue and Tallaght on the south west, loop around via Sandyford and University College Dublin and return to the city centre. While that sounds grandiose, it is what we need on the southside of Dublin to make public transport work. Despite all the public transport projects in the current plan, the National Transport Authority sent me a letter in which it predicted that there would still be a 30% increase in transport emissions in Dublin by 2040. We need, therefore, to think bigger and metro is just the sort of project that green bond could help finance.

We need to develop massive offshore wind resources, much of which can be done by the private sector through auctions but we should own the transmission grid to ship that power to the rest of Europe because we have a comparative advantage. It is a real opportunity. Long-term regulated transmission assets are the sort of funding for which green bonds are perfect.

Each of these projects would probably cost at least €5 billion. After the Minister's reply, I will provide two more examples of the way we should be thinking about investing, which goes far beyond what is outlined in the national development plan.

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