Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will comment on the Minister of State's remarks. My understanding is that most countries in Europe are moving ahead while Ireland is for some reason stirring a pot with regard to embodied carbon in materials, particularly construction materials. The Dutch have been working on this since 2012. They have various standards and procurement processes in place that work to take out the embodied carbon. What I am hearing from the Department — I do not like saying this — is kind of spin. It looks like the Scandinavians, French and English are already on board and that there is a misconnect somewhere. When I mentioned environmental product declarations, EPDs, to the departmental officials, they did not know what I was talking about. My fear is that they are not even at this point yet.

I have a second question, on planning and climate action transition. This State has an horrendous legacy when it comes to the planning strategy on public transport and the welfare of commuters. During the 1940s and the 1950s, we virtually removed all rail links and completely removed trams from Dublin. However, one of the many tangible benefits of EU membership for many Irish people has been the EU Structural Fund. Unfortunately, since the 1990s we have continued to spend funding on road-building at the expense of public transport. Portugal has an economic status comparable to ours but it invested heavily in public transport and its network, both inner-city and intercity, is now far ahead of ours and it has underground and fast intercity connections.

Our current model does not serve society. Most people have to purchase cars to move from A to B in Ireland. They are then subject to all the expenses entailed by car ownership, which leads to lower quality of life. Even in our capital, not to mention our commuter counties, the public transport network is not fit for purpose. People face long commutes within the city. It can take an hour and a half, or sometimes two hours, to move within the city. Last year, the members of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, of which I was a member, made policy to provide for sustainable public transport. This policy included opening the Navan rail line and extending the airport metro to the south-west quadrant of the city. Unfortunately, unelected decision makers seem to have forced the Minister to repeal this democratic process. Does the Minister of State believe it is appropriate that elected public representatives at regional assembly level should have sustainable planning policies overturned by unelected officials?

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