Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In the ten minutes I have, I will group into ten subjects the responses to what I have heard. I will not have sufficient time to deal with any one issue, but I will reflect on what I have heard Deputies say.

I will start with the contribution made by Deputy O'Rourke. Aer Lingus workers are in real difficulty with regard to back pay and the temporary wage subsidy scheme. I understand the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection said earlier this week that the Department is awaiting the relevant forms from Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus has said it is waiting for clarification from the Department. My understanding is that the relevant documentation is to be provided and I hope that deals with that immediate issue.

Deputies McNamara, Smith, Collins and a number of others spoke about the critical issue of testing at airports. We are an isolated island nation. We have to maintain air connectivity and make things easy for people who have to travel for business or personal reasons. For various reasons, we want to maintain our air connectivity. Within that, the adoption of a common European approach is the best way of going about this because it allows for reciprocal arrangements.

One Deputy said that Germany is looking for us to provide advanced testing for anyone flying into Germany or else testing on arrival and quarantining. That European approach is the appropriate route for us to take to develop a stable and clear environment on what is a very difficult issue. It is difficult because we have received different advices. The health services gave us advice to the effect that they did not want testing at airports and that there were difficulties with that approach.

The European Commission's proposal is the right one. We have adopted it in accepting its mechanism for defining what a green list country is. Normal procedures mean that people do not have to restrict their movements or isolate on arrival from countries on the list. We expect to adopt the amber and red route mechanism that the European Commission has proposed. There is a delay in that because we have to wait for the General Affairs Council meeting on 13 October where it has to be agreed at a European level. At the moment it is a Commission proposal. We are supportive of it, but we have to see whether other countries accept the proposal.

In the interim period we have to see where we can get the testing capability. There is a limit on testing capability across the world and we are trying to source what is required and make sure that if there is agreement in the EU on the Commission approach we will be able to adopt the red and amber mechanisms. They are flexible. There are choices within that. We will have to await European co-operation on that.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn, Cahill, Wynne, Crowe and a number of others raised the issue of Shannon Airport. I would put Cork Airport in the same category. Those two airports have acute problems. The dramatic fall in air passenger transport does not just affect these airports or this country. It has been a global phenomena. In my mind, there is a critical and strategic imperative in retaining international air connectivity through Shannon and Cork. In this crisis or any future scenario, we cannot allow a significant diminution in the regional and important international role of those two airports to happen.

I believe Deputy Quinlivan said that Shannon Airport should be regrouped under the DAA. I will be honest. I met the unions based in the airport. I felt that change would take two or three years and would not solve the underlying strategic issues. We have to make strategic decisions on Shannon. I am not sure that reconnecting it to the DAA would immediately assist in that. We have to make sure that whatever supports or other measures we put in place Cork and Shannon airports survive and return to growth, and there cannot be a huge loss to the region from that.

Another critical issue is school bus services and transport. I receive regular correspondence about it. Deputy Mac Lochlainn first raised the issue. I am very aware of the personal relationships of people in Donegal who have told me about their issues. We could go right around the country. In a pandemic circumstances change and we do not have total control over what is happening. We spent the summer preparing the school transport system in a way that was appropriate so that we could manage the buses safely and have a system in place. With the increase in numbers a few days before the schools were due to reopen, the health advice was that there should be 50% capacity. We had three or four days to act. The Department of Education and Skills is still examining this. We would need 1,600 buses and drivers.

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That availability within a matter of days was not possible. The Department of Education and Skills is working now with the industry, as Deputy Cahill and number of other Deputies have said, to see if we can switch some of those bus services that are not being used in the coach and tourism industry at present and to see if they can be made available. They were not available on the first day back in school by any means and there have been real difficulties, which we acknowledge, but the Government is working to the best of our ability to see if it is possible to provide that additional capacity to be able to meet both the new health guidelines and the needs of the students right across this country.

With regard to the points raised by Deputies Boyd Barrett, McAuliffe and many others on the taxi industry, we are going to have to work similarly with that industry and sit down with it again. I met the representative groups two weeks ago and intend to go back to them, while working with the National Transport Authority and with the Department, to see what additional measures can be put in place. A whole series of existing measures has been taken but we need to see what additional measures are needed to respond to the proposals these groups are making. We will come back to them to see if there are mechanisms through which we can support that industry. I cannot commit to that here today because it will require work but we are committed to meeting the industry and to trying to ensure that those involved also will manage and survive through this incredibly difficult period.

One of the most critical issues which did not get as much attention as it could have but one of the big structural changes that is coming to the transport sector from the Covid-19 pandemic, is the switch, as Deputies Michael Moynihan and Leddin referred to, to remote working. It provides the opportunity for fundamental strategic change for the better for regional development and for our towns and villages in a new way and that is something which we must use to our benefit and advantage. It is one of the few advantages coming out of this Covid-19 period. To do that, in response to Deputies Clarke, O’Connor and a number of others, we must review our bus services, our Local Link bus services and our town bus services. Deputy Clarke referred to Mullingar bus service. We need to change our thinking around bus services from being all about long-distance commuting into the cities and to start looking at bus services as a more local, rural, urban, village and town bus services, because it may be that the needs of these people in some of these towns will not be about getting out of the towns and up to the city and back. It may well involve working in the town, working from home or in an enterprise hub and having local bus services would greatly help to cater for that.

The same would apply to Crusheen railway station, or Killucan and or some of the other public transport services that are mentioned. People know that my instinct in that regard is to invest in public transport, first and foremost. That has to be our strategic response to create that better local environment.

On Deputy Paul Murphy’s point on the development of cycling, I fully agree with and commit to him that we will be delivering on the programme for Government commitments to resource cycling and resurfacing is part of that. It is not an insignificant part but it is not the key element. The key element is the reallocation of space. That, together with funding which will be available, will require political commitment at a local council level and I hope that I can get his and the support of others in this regard. We should be radical now in creating safe spaces on our roads to promote cycling.

To respond to Deputy Lahart, I commit similarly that those facilities can also be used for e-scooters and while I am told by the Department that there are all sorts of complexities regarding legislation, I commit to him that this issue will get a real priority and we will promote it because it is part of this new mobility and changing away from these long-distance commutes and looking at alternatives.

Last but not least, with regard again to how we change the way we do things, Either Deputy Connolly or Deputy Leddin or Deputy Ó Laoghaire mentioned the need to be proactive with light rail when looking at Cork, Galway and Limerick. That is critical. I look at Dublin, of course, because it is my own home town but one of the things I have been concentrating more than anything else on in the first two months in office is working with the authorities in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. If our balanced regional development is to work, we need to invest in those cities as a counterpoint to the country tipping off into the east coast, which is not good for Dublin in any case. Was it Deputy Ó Laoghaire who said to advance a light rail in Cork, we could have a high-speed bus service or a really high quality bus corridor? We could do that, in anticipation of us moving towards a light rail system, which we will. We could do the same in Galway. We do not need to wait for the northern road or any other road. We need to build the public transport in Galway now. We need to build both the cycling and rail infrastructure. We had a debate earlier about the twin tracking of the Athenry line. If we do not do that, the housing will be on a continuing sprawl on a long-term basis and we are back then to everybody driving and commuting, in and out, and getting caught in traffic, with Parkmore Industrial Estate getting blocked up. It will not work. We use this time of change to make change and I really appreciate the contributions from every Deputy here in that regard.

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