Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the Minister of State's comments on the climate action regional offices. I must add, however, that climate action is urgent and there are projects in the pipeline now, such as the one in Salthill, that amount to climate action and which we need to take very seriously.

We have a national policy that prioritises sustainable transport and mobility over private car traffic. Yet, in Galway, we see local elected representatives actively campaigning against national policy and actively campaigning against their own party policies, as well as an executive that is unwilling to ensure that they meet their responsibilities.

In June 2020, the programme for Government allocated €360 million to active travel, which is a ring-fenced fund. How many kilometres and how much of a cycling network has been built by Galway City Council? The answer is "Nothing". The council, which for decades extolled the virtues of a ring road to alleviate congestion, was given funds to develop a proven solution to congestion but did nothing.

Our local government structures have been undermined for years, with a highly centralised power structure. The forthcoming directly elected mayor for Limerick will be a welcome step, as is the upcoming citizens' assembly to consider a directly elected mayor for Dublin. In the face of the reluctance of local authorities to truly embrace our national ambition for climate action, we all, as Members of the Oireachtas, are faced with a huge communications and community engagement challenge. We need to communicate not only our ambition but also what our targets mean and the timelines in which we need to achieve them. We need to communicate that climate action is now, that difficult decisions are here before us and that they must be taken on the ground, here and now.

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