Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Within the framework established by the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Act, I am addressing the House to make the annual transport climate transition statement for 2019. It is clear that climate change remains one of our greatest challenges, and at 20% of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions, transport has a significant role to play in our decarbonisation effort. While transport emissions fell by 2.4% in 2017, indicative figures from the EPA show a small increase in emissions in 2018. As in all developed economies, transport is the sector with greatest emissions growth over recent decades, and globally transport emissions are proving the most challenging and costly to address. Deeper action is needed urgently to decarbonise the transport sector.

I welcomed the publication by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment in July 2019 of a climate action plan to tackle climate disruption, which sets out a number of ambitious but necessary actions for my Department and the transport sector. The European Green New Deal also sets its sights on a renewed ambition for transport emissions and signals a strong impetus to achieve the key aim of becoming the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

I will highlight a number of key emissions reduction measures undertaken by the Department. These actions aim to build capacity and enhance services in our public transport systems, foster greater practice of walking and cycling, and promote a transition away from traditional fossil fuels in both the private and public vehicle fleets. We are also providing that our transport infrastructure can adapt to cope with major weather events, which are occurring with more frequency due to climate change.

In promoting the transition away from fossil fuels, the low-emission vehicle task force, co-chaired by my Department and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, continued its work throughout 2018 and 2019. The first phase of work of the task force, which concentrated on electric vehicles, EVs, finished in 2018 and saw the addition of new EV incentives. Two new schemes administered by my Department were included, namely, the electric small public service vehicle grant scheme and the electric vehicle toll incentive scheme.

In response, we saw a marked increase in the number of EVs on Irish roads in 2019, albeit from a low base. By the end of December, more than 15,500 EVs were under taxation in Ireland, more than double the number at December 2018. EV numbers continued to increase in the first few months of 2020, with almost 19,000 on the roads by the end of April. We do not, however, expect the same level of growth this year, due to the closure of car dealerships during the Covid-19 crisis.

Nevertheless, we are acutely aware that this transition needs to be accelerated even more. The climate action plan set ambitious targets for the number of EVs in Ireland this decade, namely, 180,000 by 2025 and 936,000 by 2030. Clearly these targets are challenging, but they are indicative of the scale of transformation needed in all sectors if Ireland is to reach its legally binding emissions ceilings in future years. My Department has established a focused electric vehicle optimum policy pathway working group to consider a roadmap to achieving these EV climate action plan targets. It expects to finish its work in the coming months and will publish its findings and recommendations to the Government shortly thereafter.

The second phase of the low-emissions vehicle task force focused on other alternative fuels, including natural gas and hydrogen, particularly for the heavy-duty vehicle fleet. Findings and recommendations were presented to the Government in October 2019 and are available on the Department's website.

On the recommendations that pertain to my Department, the EV toll incentive scheme, has been extended to cover alternatively fuelled trucks and buses and work is under way to establish a purchase grant for alternatively fuelled trucks and buses to cover some of the purchase cost differential between a lower-energy vehicle and a fossil-fuelled one.

We are pressing ahead with decarbonising the public transport fleet. We committed that from July 2019 no more diesel-only buses would be purchased for the urban public service obligation bus fleets in the national development plan. Work began in 2018 in the form of low-emission bus trials that examined technologies that include diesel, diesel hybrid, gas and electric buses to inform future purchasing decisions. These trials concluded in 2019 and the findings have been published on the website. A framework contract for hybrid buses has been initiated. To date, nine hybrid buses have been delivered and are in service in Dublin. I expect 100 buses to be delivered by the end of the year.

For rail, a ten-year procurement framework for electric and battery-electric train units is being established to greatly expand the fleet and reduce its emissions. In the medium term, the DART expansion programme will see the largest ever investment in the fleet, with prequalifying started and the electrification of the rail network across the greater Dublin area.

While we are working towards making public transport cleaner, we are also working on improving services and infrastructure to encourage people to opt for alternatives that are more sustainable than cars with passengers for their journeys. In 2019, almost €450 million was invested in public and sustainable transport infrastructure, representing an increase of more than €40 million on the 2018 investment. A further €4 million plus was invested in the smarter travel programme. Funding in 2019 for rural transport services operated by Local Link totalled €21 million, comprising rural transport programme funding of €15 million and €6 million PSO funding for Local Link regular services. An additional 24 million public transport passenger journeys were made in 2019 by comparison with 2018 nationally. Numbers of walking and cycling trips increased in Dublin city centre, accordingly to the NTA's canal cordon count.

Looking to the future, €8.6 billion has been earmarked for investment in public and sustainable transport measures to 2027. This funding is to support projects such as MetroLink, BusConnects and the DART expansion programme. Investment on this scale will transform the public transport network and enable more people to choose sustainable options as their preferred modes of transport. In fact, the climate action plan has committed us to achieving an additional 500,000 public transport and active travel journeys daily by 2025.

We must ensure that transport infrastructure can adapt to a changing climate where extreme weather events are becoming the norm. It is clear that extreme weather can damage critical infrastructure, disrupt business-as-usual transport operations and potentially lead to unsafe travel conditions. With this in mind, the publication of the various sectoral adaptation plans in October 2019 was a key milestone. The adaptation plan for transport infrastructure, prepared by my Department, is a further important stage in our adaptation journey. Identifying the vulnerabilities in the transport system is key, particularly where these interact with other critical systems, such as energy and communications, all of which support our society and economy from day to day. Our transport agencies and infrastructure owners are proactively considering how to safeguard our infrastructure and operations, and my Department is closely engaging with them to make progress on the implementation of the actions in our plan.

The next phase of our work is to ensure that resilience building is appropriately considered in new infrastructure investment as we implement Project Ireland 2040. It will be crucial for us to work to promote a cohesive, all-of-government approach to the investment needed to adapt existing infrastructure networks and to retrofit our most critical assets. Paradoxically, while the recent Covid-19 crisis has had a severely detrimental effect on our society, economy and communities, it seems to have had a positive effect on our transport emissions. Early indications show that there was a decrease in transport emissions due to the dramatic fall in road traffic caused by travel limits, the closure of schools and certain businesses, and the move to working from home. As the country starts to reopen, we must take this opportunity to review our transport habits and, where possible, make transitions towards sustainable travel.

Public transport capacity will, admittedly, be limited in the short term as social distancing guidelines remain in place. However, we are already seeing a movement in our cities and towns through the preparation, publication and implementation of Covid-19 mobility programmes to accommodate higher levels of cycling and walking, and to make active travel safer and more convenient. Working from home may also be a policy embraced by more companies in future and it is likely to take more traffic off our roads.

My Department will work with the National Transport Authority to ensure the positive changes in travel habits arising from the Covid-19 crisis will be encouraged and accommodated so more sustainable transport patterns can be maintained as we slowly move back to normal daily life.

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