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

I always keep an open mind but I should also speak my mind, although I will do so in a very respectful way because this is a useful debate. Under the national planning framework, it is clear that we want to restore life to the centre of villages, towns and cities. I will be honest. If the section from Ballincollig to Macroom costs the same as the section from Macroom to Ballyvourney, and there is no reason to expect it would not, we would be talking about at least €250 million and up to €300 million, as the Deputy himself has said. Some €250 million could help us to build a really high-quality public transport infrastructure in Cork city, which is needed. This would start to bring life back into the centre of Cork and to ensure that it can be a counterweight to our over-reliance on the growth of Dublin. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan tabled a very interesting parliamentary question in recent weeks which pointed out that places like Macroom and Ballyvourney do not have proper bus connections to Cork city. If we were to invest in the public transport alternatives, we could potentially have lower volumes in the traffic jams coming out the EMC factory and Cork city in the evenings. We could start to provide sustainable transport to ensure the whole system works for everyone.

We have to start moving away from roads-led development, which is leading to further sprawl and which is undermining the strength and development in the centre of our towns, villages and cities. We need to move towards investment in sustainable transport modes that bring life back into towns.

I agree with the Deputy that Macroom will grow. With the bypass, we have the potential to invest that €750 million in the centre of Macroom town. We should do the same thing that has been done in Clonakilty and improve the public realm by improving the walking and other facilities there so that it is a strong town in its own development and is not just a commuter town for Cork city. That is the way the national planning framework is set to work and that is where we should be investing our money, rather than constantly going back to building bigger and bigger roads. The Deputy is right about that section of the N8 that has about 12,000 vehicles per day. It has the capacity for about 80,000 vehicles per day. Therefore, we are massively overproviding. Similarly, on a lot of our national road network, we are providing capacity that will never be needed. The problem is that at the same time, we do not have the public transport capacity or infrastructure. We need that infrastructure to direct where our housing goes.

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