Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

I appreciate that the Minister of State and I seem to be singing off the same hymn sheet. I attended one of the original proposal meetings on what are now called "active travel schemes" back in 2020. The overseeing consultants assured us then that traffic would just disappear if we implemented these schemes. The only real, empirical report I am aware of is on Kilmacud after new cycle lanes, road closures and various other infrastructure were implemented. It showed traffic did not disappear but was just displaced, with increased rat-running car speeds. After that particular scheme, there was actually less walking and cycling in the area. Anecdotally, my constituents in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown report that they are making longer journeys than they did five years ago. For example, a constituent recently highlighted to me that when doing the big family shop, her 3 km car journey from Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt took her 45 minutes.

One possible consequence of a lot of these investments has been increased motor vehicle congestion. I accept some people are definitely walking and cycling more. I know that from anecdotal evidence from constituents as well. However, others are driving more and taking longer journeys. My question, therefore, is whether overall emissions are up or down.

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