Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The NESC legislation the Taoiseach again referenced has been on every legislative list since the Government came into office and has made no progress at all. Not even the heads of the Bill have been produced. I expect that will remain the case and that we will not see the legislation in the lifetime of this Dáil. Is it the Government's intention to proceed with it or not?

With regard to the work of NESC, in 2018 Dublin was found to be the third most congested city in the world, ahead of major urban centres like Paris and London, in respect of transport congestion. At the launch of NESC's report on transport development earlier this month, which was referenced by the Taoiseach in his response, the council's director stated that development in Ireland continues to be car centred. As of this month, we are still car centred in this regard. There is a lot of focus in the climate plan on the shift from combustion engines to electrically-powered vehicles but, as one commentator said, all this will do is provide cleaner traffic jams. It does nothing to deal with congestion. We still have no significant public transport project under construction right now. That is amazing.

What are the Taoiseach's reflections on the views expressed by NESC in its commentary on the transport development plan published earlier this month? Did he engage with NESC on its findings on the climate action and transport development plans when matters were being finalised in that regard? Is it his view that we now need to increase significantly our investment in public transport in towns and cities throughout the land?

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