Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

There are many rail issues in Dublin West. I will briefly mention them and then make some general points. In Ashtown, there is just development after development and high-rise apartments flying up regularly. It is happening at such a rate that the rail service the area does have is jam-packed and dangerous, according to many residents. Either a stop will have to be put on planning permissions granted, which none of us wants because we all know there is a housing crisis, or the transport issues will have to be addressed. There are also many issues further out in the Dublin 15 end of Dublin West. There are no lifts and no disability access in Castleknock train station. This is not acceptable in this day and age. Regarding seating in the Navan Road Parkway station, it has been pointed out by several workers that pregnant women have nowhere to sit.

On the Dublin West and Dublin 15 area more generally, we frequently hear TDs from rural areas talking about people in Dublin having a train or a bus outside their doors. There is no such thing. Huge chunks of Dublin 15 are badly served by public transport. Most of Dublin West is reliant on buses. The 39 bus is known as the "coffin ship into town" because every time there is a new development, it is just added on to the 39 bus route, rather than a new bus route being created. It takes one student trying to get to UCD from Ongar three hours to get in at peak time. You could get to Greece in three hours. Turning to ghost buses, I refer to the 37 bus, the Go-Ahead Ireland buses in Tyrrelstown and disappearing bus stops for people in the area. Workers who work in St. Vincent's Hospital and UCD had their journeys significantly added to by changes made by Irish Rail last year. It has meant their journey times to work were severely added to.

We need a Luas. We need a light rail system in Blanchardstown. It is just so obvious. We have every multinational out there and a massive number of workers. The Broombridge station is nearby. We need that extended from Broombridge to Blanchardstown. It is quite a greenfield site at the moment and it could and should have been provided. We have had Taoisigh and Ministers, but none of them have ever provided Dublin West with the transport system we need. We now have to say, "Enough". The misery of people's lives now trying to get into town or across the city in built-up urban areas of Dublin is outrageous. This is especially the case at a time when we want people to use public transport because of climate change and just a better quality of life. We are actually making it impossible for people. It must be addressed. It is so obvious we must invest in public transport in large, extremely built-up urban areas. Essential workers cannot get to their place of work and students cannot get to college. The situation is really eroding people's quality of life.

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