Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I welcome all efforts to keep public transport on the political agenda. It is certainly not prioritised by this Government or by the Minister. A good public transport service is a cornerstone of most modern states and cities. Ireland and our cities are way behind in this regard. Our public transport systems are not up to standard and do not provide adequate services in many parts of the State. This is not the fault of those providing the services. I take this opportunity to commend the three CIÉ companies in particular for their long-standing service to public transport.

The problem involves bad planning and, in recent years, an ideological opposition to the notion of transport being a vital public service like health, education or any other public service. We have a Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport who has no respect for public services and no interest in improving public transport. He thinks it has nothing to do with him. This means public transport never receives adequate funding and continues to struggle to keep up with increasing demand. We have the highest levels of public transport use on record but funding has not kept up with demand and services are lacking. This is true for both current public service obligation, PSO, spending and capital spending on badly needed improvements in infrastructure. The NTA is tasked with overseeing public transport but it can work only with the budgets allocated to it by the Minister and it works to implement Government policy.

The main policy that has been in train in recent years is the privatisation of our public bus routes. A total of 10% of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann routes were put out to tender in recent years. A further 10% of Bus Éireann routes are up for grabs. A foreign profit-making company has won most of these tenders. It is questionable what a for-profit company can bring to the table. What existing public transport services need is increased funding. The Government needs to significantly increase funding for CIÉ companies to allow them to expand and improve their services. This will mean more buses and trains and more services. It would also mean safer, more efficient and cheaper services. It would go a long way towards reducing reliance on cars and improve social cohesion. Instead the Government chooses to privatise.

In recent years, two major issues have become very visible, namely, the lack of rural transport and our emissions obligations. The Government has abandoned the people of rural Ireland. That much is very clear. This is not rocket science. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. There is an obvious solution to the problems faced by people in rural areas. We need improved rural bus services. Bus Éireann is perfectly positioned to provide this service but the budget is not there for it to offer increased services and better frequency on existing routes. The same goes for rail services. In Sinn Féin's alternative budget, we increased PSO funding by 25% for 2019. The second issue is transport emissions, which constitute the second biggest source of emissions in this State. This is not surprising given that many people have no option but to use their cars. The best way to ensure a significant reduction in car use and transport emissions is to provide affordable reliable good-quality public transport - both buses and trains. Until this happens, we are failing rural Ireland and our environmental obligations. Fine Gael's record on both matters has been appalling.

Sinn Féin supports the call in this motion for increased spending on public transport. However, we have some concerns about the exact figures quoted in this motion. We had similar concerns at the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action about this particular recommendation from the citizens' assembly. We are 100% behind the concept of increasing spending on public transport and public transport projects. However, when we budget using ratios and percentages, it can be problematic. Having looked at the national development plan figures, we are concerned that the figures quoted in this motion include maintenance and other road budgetary items. This citizens' assembly called for a 2:1 ratio regarding spending on public transport versus new road projects. Spending on new road projects is much lower than the figures quoted in this motion. We should seek a much more ambitious spending target for public transport, starting with PSO spending to quickly and efficiently improve rural transport services in particular.

A number of projects are in the planning phase, all of which cater to Dublin. I hope that BusConnects will be successful.

However, we have concerns about the future accessibility of public transport and the feasibility of some parts of the BusConnects plan. My party and I also support metro north. We continue to call on the Government not to completely abandon the southern part of that project. We need major improvements in transport provision, and metro south should be an important part of that.

I would also caution against privatising new services. Culling projects for political reasons has led us to where we are today, and it does not inspire confidence that it continues to happen. The State should not build new public transport services only to hand them over to foreign businesses to make profit from them. This neoliberal model is ridiculously poor value for money and we need to move away from it.

As a Deputy representing County Louth, the county with the two largest towns in Ireland, and east Meath, I welcome plans to extend the DART to Drogheda. I hope this project can be completed in a timely manner, in particular given the large number of workers living in Louth who have to commute to Dublin every day.

I support the motion's call for increased services, in particular rail services, in other cities. The Government claims to be in favour of balanced regional development, but all evidence shows that in reality this does not happen. All roads lead to Dublin, and this is having a devastating effect on communities across the State, in particular those on the western seaboard.

I also support the call in the motion for increased active travel. We have seen a significant increase in the number of cyclists in our cities in the past ten years. The numbers cycling to work would balloon if cyclists could be assured that they could cycle safely in our cities. This means not having to share space with buses or other traffic. Our cycling infrastructure needs to be upgraded to increase safety for cyclists and to shift the emphasis in our cities from cars, traffic and congestion to a safer, cleaner environment for everyone.

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