Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and report. I thank the previous speakers, the Chair and the Minister of State for being here. I also thank the witnesses, the committee secretariat and the committee members for their input to the process.

We know that the current emissions situation is not good. After a fall in emissions in 2020, we are back to business as usual and our national emissions are rising. Total greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to have increased by 6% in 2021. They did not decrease as is required in the carbon budgets. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has said those emissions are not likely to fall this year either. In fact, they are more likely to increase.

Transport has been cited by the Minister as one of the more difficult areas in which to reduce emissions. That is why I think this report is particularly important. It touches on many areas. There are many opportunities if the right approach is taken.

I welcome the reduction in public transport fares that were introduced earlier this year. This report examined public transport in detail and explored what else we could do to get people out of private cars and onto buses and trains.

Recommendation 22 proposes that a free public transport system should be costed as an option to encourage the uptake of public transport in Ireland. In response to this recommendation, I asked the Minister in January if he would examine it. He referred the matter to the NTA. The response from the authority was that it does not have a work programme for examining the provision of free public transport because this is not currently an objective of the Government's public transport policy.

There is a balance to be struck in respect of these issues in terms of the capital and current investment in the delivery of services and a reduction in fares. Obviously, in any comprehensive and attractive public transport system, availability and affordability are very important factors. We need to continue on the road of expanding services while also ensuring that fares are not driving people away. We need to continue the expansion of services and BusConnects was mentioned in that context. At the very least, in light of the current cost-of-living crisis, we need to see a continuation of the 20% fare reduction and examine how that might be expanded. Is there anything more that could be done on the youth travel card? Perhaps we could build on that because we are beginning to see the benefits of those reduced fares. We also need to include private operators in these schemes. The reality is that we have a blended mix of public transport provision and I am concerned that we might run ourselves off the edge of a cliff by not adequately supporting private operators.

The climate action plan sets out a target of 1 million EVs on our roads by 2030. The transition away from diesel and petrol cars will deliver significant emissions reductions. EVs are not the solution everywhere. There are more attractive alternatives, especially in urban areas. We have to be realistic about our spatial distribution of settlements, however, and EVs will have an important role to play. That said, the EV schemes that this State has designed and delivered over the years are offensive. They represent a massive transfer of wealth. In terms of the policy objective, what we want to achieve in the first instance is getting those people who are dependent on cars or vans into EVs. They are the people we want in these vehicles but they are the last people who will be in them. The Government's EV subsidy scheme is a massive transfer of wealth, with very expensive vehicles being bought. That has decreased somewhat but has not gone far enough. The figures for the EVs bought under the scheme in the last year reveal that 5,391 vehicles purchased cost in excess of €50,000. In contrast, just 53 grants were provided for vehicles costing less than €30,000. One does not need to be a genius to work out who is availing of these grant and the sort of advantage they already have before any transaction takes place.

I will again make the case that the Government needs to explore the opportunity of a second-hand EV market. Brexit is a factor in this in terms of the impact of the British market being closed off. There are ideas within the second-hand EV market in Ireland to address that and they need to be considered. We also need to consider the commercial sector, in particular the van market. People are going to be driving vans into the future because they do not have a public transport alternative so we need an EV scheme for them too. The Department is considering options in that regard but it needs to move quickly. The fundamental piece involves bringing people with us. People can see the current scheme for exactly what is, which is one that advantages the already advantaged and that understandably annoys them.

I also want to raise the issue of taxis, which are an essential part of our transport network. Again, I am deeply concerned that we are at risk of running off the edge of a cliff at the end of this year with the ten-year rule. It is a massive problem for taxi drivers. The rule means that older cars have to be replaced when they get to a certain age. A total of 5,344 vehicles in the taxi fleet will reach their maximum age in 2023. There is a real risk that those vehicles will be taken out of the system and we will have a crisis within the taxi sector. There is also a risk that the taxi drivers who are in a position to change their cars will replace them with petrol and diesel cars, even though those vehicles do not really need to be replaced, because they cannot get EVs because of the supply chain issues. The transition to an electric taxi fleet could be managed better if we extend the ten-year rule.

I have already referred to rural transport. On transport infrastructure projects, the Navan rail line needs to be delivered, as does MetroLink and the western rail corridor. These are significant investments. School transport is a low-hanging fruit opportunity. That the State is denying children the opportunity to take public transport to school outside of 5 km or outside of walking distance is unforgivable. The school bus scheme needs to be expanded.

In haulage, there is an impasse and it is frustrating to watch. It is really important that the Minister engage with the industry and listens to its views on the types of solutions that can and will work. I get frustrated when I hear about impasses and a lack of willingness to engage. That needs to be addressed. I know there is an ongoing review of our ports policy. We need to avail of opportunities to maximise the potential of our ports in the context of the green economy more broadly. We must also reduce emissions in our ports.

Active travel presents significant opportunities. In response to a point made by Deputy Leddin, this is a politically contested arena and we need to recognise that. Of course some people will play games with it and for a lot of people this is not priority number one. In that context, it is about showing leadership and showing people how this stuff works. It is about designing schemes that are not inherently inequitable and that do not put people's noses out of joint straight away. People need to see the opportunities in active travel. They need to see that it will work for them. We need to show them positive examples, and the Minister of State mentioned a number of them earlier.

Time is of the essence. We need to look at rolling this stuff out rapidly and at scale. We need to look at the planning system and how to do that but, ultimately, we must engage with people and design schemes that work for them. It can be done.

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