Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am unsure whether there is wilful blindness or wilful incompetence. I do not wish to be negative. The city is thriving on one level, but it is choked with traffic. We included in the city development plan in 2005 that park and ride was necessary. We led as elected members and the people of Galway led us. Last year, I collected 22,500 signatures in favour of light rail, which is an argument for another day. I mention it because during the course of that nine-week campaign, people queued up to ask us, please, to do something for the traffic in Galway in a sustainable manner and in light of our climate change commitments. One of the simplest and most obvious parts of the solution is to put park and ride facilities in place. I ask the Minister to leave aside his script for a moment and say whether, if he were in my position, he would be happy that, in 2019, it will take another five years to put in place something for which we submitted a plan in 2005 having proactively recognised the problem?

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