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

Yesterday, the Government published its summary report on the sectoral emissions ceilings for the two carbon budgets that have been agreed through to 2030. It is clear we have a huge challenge ahead of us in all sectors but I want to speak about transport. The climate action plan has a transport section and there is some really good stuff in it in terms of getting more people onto public transport and more people walking and cycling. However, we could do all of that and still not get the transport emissions reductions we need. Unless there is both the carrot and the stick, we probably will not hit the 50% target to which we must get. We need to talk about a national modal shift target and demand management, by which I mean congestion charging, road space reallocation, parking levies and all the things that were talked about in the past. Unless we talk about them seriously now, we will not achieve our emissions reduction targets.

See this speech in context