Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last week, we had a very robust debate around aviation. I do not wish to have that debate again but I will make two points. First, my concerns about how the companies are treating workers have not gone away. I am more concerned about Aer Lingus this week because it is sidelining the unions and workers representatives. I again ask the Minister to intercede in so far as he can on that issue. Second, I wish the task force well in its work. Had it not been established we would be kicking and screaming but it has been set up and it has a four week turnaround. I needs to deliver and it has a big job ahead of it.

I also commend the good work that has been done in respect of providing segregated cycle lanes in Dublin city and elsewhere during the pandemic. One of the positives of the pandemic is that where they can, councils have used the opportunity of less traffic on the roads to make some much needed and long overdue improvements. I welcome the work of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the NTA and Fingal County Council on the Broadmeadow greenway, a project that has been approved by An Bord Pleanála. It is an exciting project that will link north County Dublin with the city via a greenway at the estuary between Donabate and Malahide. The greenways have been a great success and I commend the work of the Minister and his Department in this area in recent years. I hope that his successor continues and improves on that work.

I saw a tweet this morning, the third day of the unwinding of the restrictions, which noted it had not taken long for traffic to reclaim Dublin. It had a photograph of a long line of traffic, with a couple of buses but mainly cars. It brought back into sharp focus how bad the traffic is in our major cities. The AA Roadwatch reports have started to sound very familiar very quickly.

I will get a bit parochial in terms of the MetroLink project. I would love to hear the Minister's thoughts on that and how it may be impacted upon following the pandemic and the potential economic hit our country will take. We need this project, not only for north County Dublin but for the country. We need it to assist in the drive to get our economy back up and running. It is a source of national shame that our capital city's airport is not linked by light rail to the city centre. MetroLink is something that really needs to remain on the agenda. As has been stated previously, in recent years the people of the north county did not believe the project would go ahead but in the past few months it gave them confidence that it would proceed when they saw ground testing works take place and the barriers with the MetroLink insignia on the side go up in Seatown Villas in Swords and in other locations all the way into the city. Our concern is that the project may be shelved again with the economic hit we will take on foot of the pandemic. That cannot happen. The project must remain a priority and it must be delivered.

I understand that the authorities at Dublin Airport will continue to build the new runway. The aviation and tourism sectors will recover at some stage. We all share the massive concern as to what the cost of the recovery will be to workers. We will get to a stage at some point where we are back up and running so we do need MetroLink. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is.

I apologise to the Minister. I missed his opening statement due to the fact that I was unavoidably in transit. We saw three of the new electric and hybrid Dublin buses unveiled at Grangegorman last year, followed by an announcement of the plan to expand the number of such buses to 70% of the fleet. I would like to hear the timeline for when that will be delivered. A cynic might suggest that it was a photo opportunity and that there will be no real progress, but it would be much appreciated if the Minister could provide further detail on this matter. In Belfast, there has been significant investment in moving the public bus fleet to electric and hybrid buses and there are now plans to introduce hydrogen buses. This is the kind of investment we want to see reflected in Dublin and in the cities and towns of Ireland.

Some Deputies believe that we should not take seriously our responsibilities on climate action given the size of the country, and that it is the larger countries and the larger polluters that need to take a lead. I thoroughly disagree with that. In its short but distinguished history, Ireland has taken the lead on global issues. I am always minded to point out our lead on nuclear disarmament in the 1950s and 1960s that ultimately led to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. People might say we had no right getting involved in the geopolitics of nuclear weapons proliferation but we did and we made a real difference and we could be the same leaders on climate change. There is a real hunger and appetite from people for this country to be that leader.

As already stated, our aviation industry will rebound. As an island nation, we will always require air travel. However, we can work to reduce our emissions in this sector too and we must have a national strategy in which we can monitor and reduce the emissions we produce in air travel. It is not good enough to just say that Ireland is an island and that we need aeroplanes; we need to make a sincere effort to reduce those emissions as much as we can.

I will return to MetroLink and the connectivity of suburban areas in places such as Fingal. Many people in Fingal, Kildare and Wicklow would love to be able to cycle into Dublin city centre. If they are given the infrastructure they could cover large distances on their bike in a normal everyday commute. When we are looking at big infrastructural projects such as MetroLink we need to see them as an opportunity to provide segregated cycle lanes for commuters who will come from Balbriggan and Skerries to Dublin city centre if the routes are safe. It would be greatly appreciated if we could think big on that.

In the short time remaining, I wish to ask a couple of questions. Home working has become de rigueurnow due to the pandemic. There is a sense that it will continue for a lot of people. Has any thought been given to the provision of shared work spaces in towns that would allow people to walk to work locally and get out of the house? Some people are not able to work from home but if they could go somewhere centrally in their local town to access a shared workspace or work hub, it would mean that they would not have to get into their cars to drive long distances or get on overcrowded trains. This is something that is worth exploring and we support it.

Carbon taxes on aviation fuel are likely to come in either from the EU or on our own initiative. What work is being done to ensure the viability of the Dublin Airport Authority and other State-owned airports?

Where stands the proposal to cut airport charges at Dublin Airport which we are concerned may undercut the airport's viability to self-fund and may make it ripe for privatisation?

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