Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to speak on this motion for the Labour Party. It provides a timely opportunity for a debate about the need for better public transport and general transport infrastructure. We will support the motion. I am glad the Government is not opposing it. It is timely, especially with the announcement today relating to the greater Dublin area. The motion refers to transport infrastructure outside Dublin. We might take a moment to ponder just how disappointing today's announcement by the NTA is and what knock-on impact it will have for transport infrastructure outside Dublin 2, the counties in the immediate vicinity of Dublin, and for all of us living and working in Dublin city. In my constituency, Dublin Bay South, we clearly need to see what it will mean for us all. It will clearly have a seriously detrimental impact on the Government's ambitious targets for climate emission reductions. That is a real concern. I have been calling on Government to provide greater clarity about the implementation of measures to reduce emissions.

I welcome the ambitious climate targets that we have set ourselves. We must all recognise the need to meet those targets. We must also be conscious of the need to have clarity about how those targets are to be delivered. Marie Donnelly, the chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, was clear last week about the need to put in place, over this year and the next few years, the necessary infrastructure to enable us to deliver the more ambitious reductions in climate over the latter half of this decade, between 2025 and 2030. Yet, today, the NTA made an announcement kicking forward any delivery of major projects, such as MetroLink, light rail and overground infrastructure. This announcement is deeply disappointing. It is an appalling delay. It illustrates why we need a clear timeline and plan to meet targets when we see such delays.

One of the positives that we have seen over the last 20 months was an increase in people using active transport such as walking and cycling. I welcome the NTA's commitment to improving infrastructure there. We need to be clear that cycling infrastructure in Dublin is still severely lacking. It still feels unsafe to cycle on many streets in the city centre. I speak as someone who cycles every day. The segregated cycle lanes across many parts of the city are welcome but, all too often, they are not joined up.

A cycle lane finishing with oncoming traffic on O'Connell Bridge is one example of that. We need to ensure much better cycle infrastructure and give people the choice of using public transport. Today's announcement for the greater Dublin area is disappointing.

There are issues with our transport infrastructure across the country, particularly in the north west. Our policy is to ensure better investment in public transport, not just in Dublin, but in towns and villages across Ireland. We have put forward the idea of a rural transport guarantee to ensure every rural town has guaranteed access to reliable, affordable and sustainable public transport and every child has a guaranteed place on a school bus. Our transport spokesperson, Deputy Duncan Smith, has put forward the need for that joined-up thinking across the country with regard to rural and urban public transport.

Some of our public representatives in counties affected by the lack of investment have asked me to put three questions to the Minister of State, which she might address in the round-up at the end. First, Councillor Conor Sheehan in Limerick asked whether the Minister of State will supply a timeline for commuter rail stations around Limerick that were announced in the national development plan. I would be grateful for a response, even in writing at a later date. Second, will the Minister of State provide a timeline for the rail spur to Shannon Airport? That question is also from Councillor Conor Sheehan. Third, Nessa Cosgrove in Sligo asked me to find out when we can expect to see real movement on the western rail corridor. That was clearly an issue of great concern to all those in Sligo and other counties in the west.

As the Labour Party spokesperson on disability, I raise the question of accessible transport. Not only must our transport infrastructure be sustainable and climate-friendly, we must also ensure it is accessible. I have been sent videos of people struggling with wheelchairs on buses and in train stations as part of the Make Way Day campaign and more generally from colleagues in Labour Disability and others. Footpaths and shopping amenities can often be an impediment to access. People with disabilities need guarantees of being able to access public spaces. Local authorities should conduct an audit of accessibility in towns and villages across the country, looking at simple remedies such as dishing of paths to ensure no kerbs, matching up of paths with opposite sides of the road and pedestrian crossings. They may sound like basic and mundane measures but they can be the bedrock for those with disabilities or those pushing buggies, on which safe and secure transport networks are based. These are the sorts of measures that will encourage more people to walk to work or to shops rather than take private cars. We have legislation providing for access officers in all public bodies but we need dedicated disability officers in local authorities to work with planners and ensure we can rectify past mistakes in building infrastructure that is not accessible enough. I have put in parliamentary questions on how public bodies can comply with their obligations under the Disability Act, particularly in ensuring towns and villages are safe for those with disabilities.

There is a need to stop further cuts. The motion contains a reference to cuts that have been made to Bus Éireann Expressway routes from Galway, Limerick, Cork and Belfast and states that these cuts have impacted connectivity and frustrated efforts to reduce transport emissions. I endorse the points made in the motion because if we want to reduce our emissions and meet our targets, we must ensure cuts made to routes are reversed.

We saw in the Climate Change Performance Index today that our low performance has slipped further. We are now 46th in the rankings on how we have addressed the climate crisis. We remain among the low performers in greenhouse gas emission categories and we know we are performing poorly on international ratings generally on meeting climate targets, despite having set welcome ambitious targets. These cutbacks to crucial routes in cities outside Dublin must be addressed to ensure we meet the targets and provide connectivity for people in different settings.

Part of the motion deals with regional airports. Since March 2020, we have consistently called on the Minister for Transport and the Tánaiste to ensure the sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, namely, aviation, tourism and entertainment, continue to receive adequate supports throughout the public health emergency. We are conscious, as all colleagues are, of the unique challenges that have been presented to the aviation sector, in particular. I call on the Minister of State to ensure supports, where necessary, are maintained, particularly for smaller regional airports.

The Labour Party supports the motion and urges the Minister of State to look at the announcement made today in relation to the greater Dublin area and ensure that where we have, on the one hand, ambitious targets on emission reductions in transport, we do not with the other hand make cuts to public transport routes, delaying the development of vital public transport infrastructure and not delivering the sort of transport facilities we badly need.

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