Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am familiar with the serious congestion in Galway city and the broader Galway region. As the Deputy knows, the National Transport Authority, NTA, has been developing the Galway metropolitan area transport strategy to inform what is possible for the future in the context of public transport but also road infrastructure in the Galway region, in conjunction with Galway City Council and Galway County Council. Part of the development of this metropolitan area transport strategy necessitated the mode-specific analysis being undertaken for a light rail feasibility study and the strategic roads feasibility study. The light rail feasibility study was published by the NTA on 30 October 2024. The backdrop is the ongoing consideration of the ring road, with which the Deputy is familiar.

I know the demand within Galway city for light rail. What we are doing in the NDP is prioritising transport infrastructure more generally. This will involve a serious uplift in investment in transport infrastructure over the next five years and the setting out of a longer term position to provide confidence in the development of public transport infrastructure in our cities, between our towns and within our regions. The metropolitan area transport strategy will help inform what is possible in the short to medium term. I know it is being progressed by the two relevant councils. I am open to that engagement as Minister.

Light rail in Dublin and other parts of the country has been of a stop-start nature. It is an effective way of delivering public transport in urban areas and we need to have a better pipeline of light rail over the longer term. The NTA and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, need to work on that in terms of the respective metropolitan area transport strategies.

There is a lot of interest in the development of the ring road in Galway for its citizens and the people Deputy Connolly represents. There are also people in Galway who want to see light rail developed as an option in the urban sphere. Congestion is a serious issue. When I canvassed in Galway on many occasions last year, public transport and the ring road accounted for probably 50% of the issues raised on the door by the many people I engaged with. As a Government, with our prioritisation of transport infrastructure, we want to make real progress on some of the projects that can be started quickly but also to set out the longer term position on transport strategy and what can be delivered for Galway and the broader west of Ireland region over the coming period.

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