Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is great to have an opportunity to speak on the motion, although I do not profess to have any great insight into the Galway transport system. However, the proposer, Deputy Connelly, and, indeed, Deputy Farrell as Deputies for the area and the detail of the motion highlight the fundamental need for a bottom-up approach to a transport model that works for Galway. It is a wonderful city on our west coast that is choked by traffic.

I visit Galway city and the county a lot. I love the city and love visiting the county but visiting is difficult and it is clear that Galway is being strangled by the volume of traffic that has to through the city. We need a public transport-led approach, which is where the motion comes from. We have to be clear that, no more than ourselves, the Independent Group has one Private Members' business slot every seven or eight weeks. The business to be taken is a difficult choice and one into which an awful lot of thought goes. An extra decision has to go in to picking regionally-focused debates for Private Members' business. However, the important thing with regard to this is that unlike other areas of the country, the transport system in Galway makes national news on a regular basis and not for the reasons the people of Galway wish.

The most recent issue was that of the much-planned ring road, which is now in stasis and, previously, there was the Salthill cycle track. The two issues are separate and not to be conflated, but they are bound together by the fact that Galway needs a transport system that works and meets the needs of the people who live in the city and those who live around it. I have been in contact with our councillor in Galway, Niall McNelis, for as long as I have been a Deputy and spokesperson on transport, about the two issues I have mentioned and many others. Councillor McNelis tells me Galway is a medieval city and to access it, people have to cross bridges over the River Corrib, and the streets are narrow.

The situation is difficult when the city is heavily reliant on cars and does not have a fit-for-purpose public transport system. Galway now has many commuter-belt towns. People in towns such as Spiddal, Knocknacarra, Barna and Carraroe are daily commuters into Galway from the west side of the city and there are others in towns on the east side. We do not have the facilities to cater for them and they are using cars to get into the city, which chokes it up.

Regular travellers to Galway from Dublin or anywhere else will make a decision, if they have to get to Connemara on the far side, about whether they will leave at 5.30 a.m. to beat the traffic. Travellers to Galway know they will get to the city quickly on our motorway system but once they get there, they have to decide whether to try to beat the morning traffic or wait until off-peak hours. That is an incredible decision to make. Anyone who travels to Galway, no matter what distance from the city, makes those decisions. This is why the motion is important and of national significance.

The western rail corridor is a potential game changer for the entire western seaboard and Galway, at the mid-point of the corridor, will play a vital function in ensuring its success. I have no doubt the western rail corridor would be a success were it to be fully reopened. It would also help unlock a north-western rail corridor that would run from from Sligo up through County Donegal, which has no rail service whatsoever, right into County Derry. These are the opportunities that could open up if we had a public-transport-led approach to the western seaboard. Galway would be a fulcrum in that regard.

There are plenty of opportunities but in speaking to people in Galway and listening to the contributions from Deputy Connolly, there seems to be a sense of the unbelievable about anything happening. There have been an awful lot of promises, strategies, pilots and feasibility studies but all we are getting is more cars and not enough infrastructure to follow. I know of projects in my constituency, be it a big project such as MetroLink or a small one such as the coastal greenway, which people have been wanting and know have been needed for years but, ultimately, they feel that the projects will not happen because they have been let down so often.

However, we cannot allow the city of Galway and, indeed, our western seaboard to continue to be let down. We need investment. This is a perfect example of an historic, growing city that needs an active travel- and public transport-led approach to solving the traffic congestion there. I hope the Government takes on the bona fides and calls within the motion. It is an excellent motion that we support.

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