Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is good news, so we might be able to talk about how the motion will be implemented. The motion arises from the latest OECD report, Redesigning Ireland's Transport for Net Zero: Towards Systems that Work for People and the Planet, which I am sure the Minister has read. I have read it. It is just one in a series of reports issued nationally and internationally of which the Minister is very well aware. We have been told repeatedly, by bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, in Ireland and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, that we will not meet our emissions targets with current policies. The OECD report shines a spotlight on the policies the Government is pushing. It informs us that, with our existing policies, we will not meet our target of reducing emissions. Specifically, it states that "a systemic approach is needed for Ireland to meet its ambitious climate targets and improve well-being".

This motion has national and regional significance but focuses on Galway because it is one of the five cities destined to grow. As the Minister knows, Galway is absolutely choked with traffic. We have had policy after policy on this. All the reports I have from 1999, starting with the Buchanan land use and transportation study, would reach the ceiling in my office. We have a traffic crisis. What is the OECD report telling us specifically when it shines the light on policies? It states:

Policy rarely focuses on improving the structure of systems by redesigning or transforming them. Instead, most policies focus on improving specific parts of the system.

Therefore, we keep tinkering with the system and changing little bits. The example highlighted in the report is that 67% of emission reductions in Ireland are expected to come from developing better vehicles and fuels. In this regard, it states, "Ireland's current sub-targets assign excessive weight to vehicle and fuel replacement, expecting this to account for 67% of the transport sector emission reductions". It claims this cannot happen, for many reasons.

The core message is that transformative change is needed, but needed urgently. Over and over, this message is repeated in the report, which amounts to over 100 pages. Achieving Ireland's ambitious climate target of a 50% reduction by 2030 relative to 2018 requires transformative change. The report describes what transformative change is. Before it was published, the IPCC defined transformative change as "a system-wide change that requires more than technological change through consideration of social and economic factors". Those social and economic factors had never been taken into account. They were certainly never taken into account in respect of the outer bypass in Galway. We are being asked to review targets urgently and redefine success, which is extremely important.

A substantial proportion of the report is devoted to car dependency. It finds that Ireland has a car-dependent transport system that is unfit to help the country to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. It states, "Current mobility patterns in Ireland show that three out of four citizens, on average, opt to travel by car on a daily basis". I find the report comforting in that it asks us not to blame the motorist or others who use cars, because the system has failed. I am paraphrasing in saying the system has utterly failed motorists and others in Ireland by not giving them choices. Despite the lack of choice, we continue with policies that focus primarily on changing the behaviour of the motorist or person on the ground as opposed to the model.

To meet the 2030 climate target for transport electrification, electrification is necessary but insufficient. In this regard, the report argues that "rapid reductions in travel demand and shifts to sustainable modes are needed". Page 100 states:

Because the car-dependent system is also at the source of many other negative impacts, refocusing efforts to shift away from car dependency is also an opportunity for Ireland to align its climate and wider well-being agendas.

Over and over, a key message is refocusing efforts towards transformative change. We need to shift from the car-centric system, which involves breaking the link between economic growth and car usage. I find this particularly significant. If we want to consider how car-centric we are and the lobbying pressure, we need only consider what is spent on advertising per year to sell cars. The report states:

The automobile industry spends between 400 and 600 euros per car sold on advertising ... With approximately 105 000 cars sold in Ireland in 2021, a rough estimate is that investment in car-centric advertising amounted to approximately 50 million euros for the year. By contrast, the Irish government estimates that spending on communication promoting sustainable transport modes [not to mention providing them] will amount to 6 to 7 million euros [per year] ...

The key, of course, is to move away from blaming the motorist, pedestrian or cyclist. Today, staff and many others travelled to the Houses using public transport that is, notwithstanding the improvements made, very difficult to rely on. This report points out that the policies pursued by various Governments have significantly shaped current systems. As they have shaped the bad systems, they have, if they change, the potential to redesign proper, sustainable policies.

The report stated that Government policies have been fundamental to shaping current systems and they will also be fundamental to moving forward. It continues, "Focusing climate action on redesigning systems can provide opportunities for a just transition and for a more just system in the end." There is enormous amount of untapped potential for systems innovation in Ireland. These opportunities will not only improve well-being but will also result in lower energy and materials consumption and fewer emissions. I give all that by way of policy. Those are only some of the issues identified in the report.

I will relate that now to Galway city and the wider region. When I speak about Galway city and the problems and solutions, we cannot deal with problems and solutions without looking at the wider region and, in particular, the western railway corridor, which I am sure Deputy Canney and other Deputies will be talking about. I want to pay tribute to Dr. Bradley for his report, about which unfortunate comments were made at the time. It is an absolute necessity to have the western rail corridor up and running if we are seriously interested in balanced regional development, especially given that the north-west region was demoted less than a month or two ago by the relevant European body. That is an essential. The part that is functioning has functioned extremely well, notwithstanding some teething problems and possible flooding issues. The usage of the railway line between Ennis and Limerick has surprised us all. I do not hear the voices in Dublin that were condemnatory of the waste of money now coming forward and saying that this is wonderful, that they were wrong and that they need to look at it. There is nothing like that.

In this report, the OECD acknowledges that steps have been taken by this Government in the sustainable mobility plan. However, it highlights issues in that regard as well and emphasises the need to build on it. That approach is still focusing on the individual, as opposed to the overall policies that we need to change. The report particularly captures that on page 13, which refers to corporate responsibility. It states, “Systems could be deliberately redesigned to promote and facilitate other choices and trigger large-scale behavioural change which is otherwise unlikely.” It is otherwise unlikely without those fundamental changes.

Going back to Galway in the time that I have left, I cannot express the sense of frustration that motorists and people in Galway feel with the traffic congestion. As an elected Member since 1999, I could line up the reports from the floor to the ceiling – without exaggeration – in relation to putting all our eggs in the one basket of an outer bypass. Regardless of our opinion on that, and accepting that I might be in a minority, the point is we are now at the situation where An Bord Pleanála has agreed that the order should be quashed. We are in a limbo situation as to what will happen next. Will it go back to An Bord Pleanála or will it go back to scratch? What do we do? What have we done since 1999? We have waited for the elusive pimpernel of the outer bypass, and changed to the N6 project that will not materialise. The Minister knows that and what we need to do if we are seriously interested in implementing the climate action plan and all of the other policies.

I refer back to Galway city. We have had no feasibility study on light rail. I have forgotten which year 24,000 people put their names to a petition to say, at the very least, that there should be a feasibility study on light rail. I see one of the plans – I forget which one – “considering” it. It such a weak word. We need a feasibility study on light and very light rail.

We need urgency in relation to the rolling out of park and ride. It has not happened. I have told the Minister it is in the plan since 2005. I believe there is no management will to run that out. They are constantly waiting for the road before anything is done. I acknowledge some of the improvements that have been made but, unfortunately, there has been no transformational change. As the Minister knows, Galway is one of the five cities destined to grow and increase its population by 50%. Yet, there is no overall plan for the common good in Galway. We have a city development plan but we have no overall plan for the common good based around public transport.

Arup was given the brief to look at the N6 project. It was not given a brief to look at public transport and solve our problems through a myriad of solutions other than the outer bypass. I specifically asked Arup staff that question and they said they would have been delighted to do that, had they been given that brief. Subsequent to this, public transport was added on.

Rail services in Galway have never been used to their full potential. We are talking about an extra loop from Athenry to Galway to allow that to develop. This should all have been done, and now that it is not done, it should be number one on the Government’s agenda with a timeframe for it.

The response of the county manager and the city manager to the decision to quash the outer bypass N6 project is profoundly concerning to me. They said they were disappointed that it was refused on such a narrow ground. Does the Minister know what the narrow ground was? They failed to consider climate change. According to our management and leadership, that is a narrow ground and they are disappointed about that. If that does not bring into acute focus the failure to appreciate what climate change obligations require us to do, I do not know what else will. In that sense, the Government needs to take action. There is a need to designate Galway as a pilot project - or any other phrase that the Minister might like to use - with a view to rolling out a comprehensive, integrated public transport system that is embedded in a western rail corridor.

We need to develop a road for Connemara. There was progress on that lately in relation to saying it could now go ahead as a stand-alone project in terms of a feasibility study. Up to now, it was completely tied to a road that was going nowhere.

I appeal to the Minister. This is a golden opportunity. Rather than a disaster, the quashing of the N6 is a golden opportunity to focus on what needs to be done in Galway to make it a green and thriving city and to allow people to travel sustainably.

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