Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Green Party and Deputies Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin for bringing forward the motion. We welcome it and fully support its provisions. It is another timely and welcome motion covering a large swathe of transport deficiencies. Labour was the first party to propose the Citizens' Assembly and is supportive of both the citizens' recommendations and many of the calls within this motion. I will focus on a number of elements of the motion, in particular the way in which a lack of investment in transport adversely affects rural areas.

I represent a constituency which has a large urban population but I also represent large areas of north County Dublin that are isolated from any bus, rail or other transport alternative. Public transport is not just about commuting; it is also vital to the health and well-being of our rural and urban communities. The environmental cost of our failure to invest in adequate public transport has been well stated, but there are less recognisable social costs that need to be addressed as well. Loneliness and social isolation are an ever-growing epidemic in Ireland. It is estimated that about 400,000 people in Ireland suffer from loneliness, with more than 37% of people aged 50 or over reporting feeling lonely. These figures are particularly pronounced in rural Ireland, where there has been a complete absence of investment in public transport where it should be a priority. In 2013 Labour introduced the rural hackney scheme to serve isolated rural villages. Since then, however, no concrete action has been taken to promote, resource and expand this scheme. A simplified and reinforced version of the scheme would provide subsidies for operators in isolated rural areas and ensure tenders and start-up grants where no service currently exists. These services would combine with Local Link services in rural towns and provide a vital link to a range of public and private services as well as allowing an outlet for socialising.

A school bus guarantee should be also given to every child in Ireland to end the madness of the daily commute by car. We also need to reimagine our provision of services and how they relate to public transport. For instance, 159 post offices are due to close in rural Ireland. This means people must drive longer distances to post a letter or to perform other transactions. This comes not only at a personal cost, but also at a cost to the environment. In Sweden, Germany and Austria successful "post bus" services are in operation, whereby journeys combine rural postal collections and deliveries with a local transport service. Ireland had its own "post bus" in Ennis, County Clare, until 2004 and it served both locals and tourists. It is precisely these kinds of initiatives in which we need to invest if we are to achieve environmental, economic and social objectives.

We also need to invest in our rural towns to provide a counterweight to our overwhelmed capital. Dublin is currently the third most congested city in the world after Bogotá and Rome, which is an incredible statistic. Commuters are spending almost 250 hours stuck in cars travelling at less than 10 km/h. This statistic is shocking but we rarely see the person behind it. For example, this may be a parent not making it home to put his or her young child to bed as he or she is stuck in traffic. Again, this is not only a transport issue, it is also a social issue. What are we doing to resolve these issues? Rather than reducing the need to commute to the city for work by creating other regional employment hubs across Ireland, we are spending billions on widening access routes onto an already clogged M50. We therefore support the call in the motion to establish specifications for rural public transport to connect populations to the national public transport system based on population size. Labour's restoration of town councils Bill would be a necessary step in the right direction. Our proposal aims to restore town councils to at least 80 towns across the country which have 1,000 or more dwellings occupied by at least 5,000 residents, therefore having a clearly defined urban centre. This would give real power and autonomy back to towns around the country and could be also combined with a rural transport guarantee. This would allow councils to provide local transport services - pedestrianised streets, biking infrastructure and local bus and hackney services - which would enhance the prosperity and well-being of their towns and the surrounding areas.

Urban planning measures are needed to deliver what we need to do in this city and every other city and town throughout the country. I refer to dedicated and segregated cycle lanes, particularly on the main arteries into and out of our urban centres. This may involve difficult decisions, and while the motion calls for these segregated lanes, its proposers and supporters need to follow up this when politically unpopular decisions may need to be made. Progress in the delivery of cycle lanes requires politically difficult planning choices. Segregated lanes need land, so parks, paths, gardens and roads may all come into play. Labour fully supports the provision of cycling infrastructure. We led on the delivery of the Dublinbikes scheme, which continues to go from strength to strength. A bike sharing scheme has been piloted in Fingal and will, I hope, also be expanded. We need to see such a scheme expanded to all Irish cities, big towns and major suburbs. In Labour's alternative budget we proposed a 20 cent subvention for every journey on the public bike schemes to help finance further expansion. We believe in investing, building and delivering. A revised and improved bike-to-work scheme with further political impetus and pressure would be of great benefit and I believe uptake of it would be very strong. There are currently considerable risks to cyclists who use shared roads due to the interaction between cyclists and motor vehicles. In 2017, 15 people died as a result of collisions between motor vehicles and bicycles and hundreds more were injured. This was a 50% increase on the figure for 2016. Future deaths can be prevented if we invest more in cycling. Currently, less than 1% of our transport budget, or around €3 million, is spent on promoting cycling and cycling infrastructure. If we invested more money in certain cycling projects, we could hope to prevent more accidents as well as promoting cycling among Irish citizens. One thing in which we can invest is better cycling infrastructure such as more dedicated cycle tracks that are physically segregated from other road users. Additionally, there is a great need for legislation specifying the minimum distance motor vehicles must maintain when passing cyclists. This is another measure that could help prevent future injuries and deaths caused by collisions between cyclists and motor vehicles.

I fully support the Stayin' Alive at 1.5 campaign and am very proud of the Labour group on Fingal County Council which led the way in delivering a pilot Stayin' Alive at 1.5 scheme in Fingal. Now every large council vehicle has a Stayin' Alive at 1.5 sticker on it and there are popular cycling routes with dedicated 1.5 m signage. This makes a difference and can save lives.

I support the motion and look forward to the remainder of the debate.

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