Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have just three and a half minutes so I will focus on a number of points if the Minister of State does not mind. The fact that the number of people on public transport has substantially and significantly increased because of the reduced fares proves exactly what some of us on this side of the House have been saying for a very long time. In fact, we have asked for free public transport. I repeat what colleagues have already said in that regard.

I would love to know what we are paying in fines if the Minister of State has the information to hand. What fines are we paying on a regular basis for breaching our obligations under European legislation? We clearly need to take radical action in order to meet our commitments for 2030 and 2050.

Before I refer to Galway city, I would like to sound a note of caution about electric cars and where we are sourcing the cobalt and lithium. This is something that has not been mentioned at all in the Dáil and I would like a response from the Government regarding the human rights abuses in Congo, the use of very young children and the very exploitative working conditions concerning the extraction of cobalt in particular.

I would love to see an analysis done on that.

The Minister visited Galway two weeks ago and confirmed funding was available for a feasibility study on light rail. That has never been carried out. It is one of the most basic requirements in Galway city, which is destined to increase its population by 50%. More than four years ago, 24,000 people signed a petition calling on the Government to carry out a feasibility study. As usual, the people are way ahead of us. They will move to public transport. They do not need enticement. What they need are options, which we do not have. We have not done what the people of Galway asked us to do. We have not provided park and ride, which is a source of great upset to me because I was mayor at the time. We led on this, as did the councillors, and put an objective in the city development plan to roll out park and ride in 2005. Here we are in 2022, the National Transport Authority has taken over, and its latest response is it is looking at park and ride possibly being provided on the east side of the city but the west side is being ignored completely.

The Minister talked about school transport. There is major potential if we revisit school transport with buses that could be multifunctional but are not being used. There are some changes in the rail system from Athenry and Oranmore, which are very welcome, but they are very late and are ad hoc.There is no sense of urgency whatsoever in respect of climate change or the climate and biodiversity emergencies. We need transformational change. We do not need to talk about encouraging people. They are crying out to do it differently and we need to do it differently.

I once again appeal on the public record for the most basic thing: a feasibility study on light rail for Galway. It should consider school transport and park and ride, and ask why in God's name we are allowing the National Transport Authority to delay and delay with something as basic and fundamental as that.

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