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

I agree about the merits of a feasibility study for light rail in Galway. We will commission and deliver that. It is best done within the review of the Galway transport strategy which is due next year. It would also be done then at a time when, all going well, we will know whether we have got the planning permission through for the cross-link route. That would be one obvious route which we could upgrade to the light rail options that a number of people in Galway are now presenting as having real potential. To deliver that requires first and foremost political commitment from the local authority representatives and the Dáil representatives in Galway because it will be a difficult decision. It will require the reallocation of space and preference being given to public transport. This would transform the city for the better, but it is never easy. It is never easy to change from the current model to a new one but that is the key thing, both in the current public non-statutory public transportation phase and as we go into devising planning permission. Getting local political buy-in, support and backing for the bus corridor options and for the active travel routes is what we need in Galway more than anything else.

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