Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the update. I have a copy of the Minister's reply, which is one of the perks of sitting in the Chair. The reply states that the programme of works: "will look at walking, cycling, bus, rail, park and ride" but light rail is not mentioned. The Minister has mentioned light rail and I welcome that but it is not printed in the answer that he is reading out; only rail is mentioned. I would like the Minister to clarify that because light rail is a different concept to rail. It is important that rail is included but the same is true for light rail, which is what the Gluas committee in Galway has repeatedly asked for. While I welcome any progress, I am frustrated because it is being done in a vacuum. There is no updated strategy; the strategy that was there in 2016 was already dated and three years later we declared a climate emergency. At that point we needed an updated strategy and park and ride was to be unveiled in September. The NTA went ahead looking at one side of the city. I put most of the blame for this on the city council because before it went to the NTA it only looked at one side of the city. City councillors objected and asked for stronger wording to go in the plan but the manager said the wording was strong enough.

However, we still have no park and ride in Galway since 2005.

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