Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I thank Deputy O'Gorman and the Green Party for bringing forward this motion and putting the spotlight on public transport. I am also grateful that the Government is not opposing it. I welcome the Minister of State's speech. I know he is heart and soul behind rail. I may get a chance to come back to that.

The Minister of State acknowledged that "Public transport is not just about moving people from A to B. It is a vital service that connects individuals to work, education, healthcare and their communities." He is right but that has been not recognised by any government. Governments viewed transport as getting from A to B, with a whole lobby group behind car transport, building more roads and getting more cars. We are falling into the same trap in respect of electric vehicles. I would love to see a full examination of electric vehicles, from start to finish, in terms of where their components come from but that is for another day.

I note and welcome the eight commitments outlined in the motion. I see the Government will have a strategy later this year. When will it be published? Will it include the western rail corridor as one of its targets? I hope it does. Unfortunately, statements on that have been moved from the agenda of the Dáil today. I hope they will be back next week and we can go into that more.

The press release from the Climate Change Advisory Council is a call to action. Five years since we declared a climate and a biodiversity emergency in May 2019, we have the climate council telling us it is "increasingly unlikely that the Transport sectoral emissions ceiling will be achieved". I see we have students in the Gallery today. The council goes on to tell us that "With journeys to education making up one in five of all journeys, the Council urges an expansion of the School Transport Scheme". It states that only 18% or 172,000 out of 945,000 primary and secondary students avail of the school transport scheme. If the Minister of State was to make any practical difference at all, it would be to expand school transport. It is a no-brainer to provide that it not be limited when we have cars of every size on the roads bringing children to school. Parents have no choice due to the failure to expand the school transport scheme. I and my colleagues have been asking for this forever. The Climate Change Advisory Council sets out what we need to do and the urgency of doing it. We are utterly ignoring the council. We are going to miss our emission targets.

There has been a golden opportunity in Galway city for many years. It is a thriving and beautiful city. Tá mé an-bhródúil aisti. Is cathair dhátheangach í ar thairseach na Gaeltachta is mó sa tír agus táimid sáite i dtranglam tráchta. Tá a fhios ag an Aire Stáit é sin. Tá trácht chuile lá. Galway should be a pilot city, a green lean city. We should build on the industry that is there, its natural beauty and the talent of its people. Instead, we are letting them sit in traffic every day for hours on end. We hear it on the radio. We have no park-and-ride facility. None has been rolled out. It is 20 years since I had the privilege of being mayor. The council agreed with me then to put the objective of a park-and-ride facility in the Galway city development plan. It became law on 1 February 2005, over 20 years ago, but has never been rolled out. Pathetically, we are now looking at a 200-space site. I say "pathetic" given what is needed but it is welcome.

Many years ago, 24,000 people signed a petition begging the Government to look at a feasibility study for light rail in Galway. We got the feasibility study, which said light rail was possible. I know the Minister of State is interested in that. Light rail, alongside park and ride, is one of the components of solving the traffic problems in a way that is compliant with our obligations and with the necessity for transformative action in view of the climate emergency and what we promised after Covid.

Every Government policy I read refers to the necessity of public transport for social cohesion and integration but we are utterly failing to deliver. We are dividing people against each other, people in favour of roads versus others, when this is absolutely unnecessary. We need a comprehensive, inclusive public transport system that is free. We are working towards that and we have reduced emissions. I thank the Green Party for its influence on that. However, it is much cheaper to get a public transport system that is free and has everybody on board. We talk about having public awareness to encourage people. People want to use public transport. They are dying to get out of the cars but they have absolutely no choice.

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