Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy that transport safety is the first imperative. As I said, in an environment where we have €100 billion of proposed projects and only €35 billion available, we need to have other interim solutions to address particular risky points or black spots and implement specific design measures at junctions that are particularly difficult. That is what I have argued for TII to do. In addition, on non-national and urban roads, we need to get local authorities to implement the lower speed limits the Government has agreed with real promptness next year. These will be another factor in helping to reduce the number of fatalities and the impact of road accidents.

There is a further issue with prioritisation, and I have been upfront about this. Given that we have so many different projects, the advancement of bypasses and road investment which takes through-traffic out of towns is a real imperative. Let us consider really thriving towns such as Portlaoise, Portarlington, Tullamore and Birr. I could go across every county or constituency represented in this House. There is a clear indication that the improved town centre environment provided by taking out through-traffic is the best mechanism to improve safety but also to improve economic development in the county in question. I have a list as long as my arm of various such projects that are ready to go or that are at various stages of development. For the development of rural areas, the development of towns outside our cities needs to be the counterforce. This is really possible now with remote working and digital hubs combined with rural bus services. That is the real opportunity and that should also be prioritised within our investment programme.

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