Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I am clear in my support for increased public transport for Kildare South, but we know this extra capacity will take years. Commuters on the M7 and N7 cannot wait that long. Since I first raised this, I have been inundated with messages from commuters across Leinster and north Munster. Thousands of people are spending their lives stuck in daily traffic for up to three hours as they try to get to work. They are leaving their family homes at 6 a.m. to barely make it into work for 9 a.m. It is not just workers who are affected. People are missing critical medical appointments like chemotherapy because of these delays. Cancer patients are telling me they are having to pull over to the side of the road because they are so unwell and cannot make their appointments. Can this House imagine what it is like to be undergoing cancer treatment and be trapped in traffic for hours on end?

The problems for commuters are because of the pressure and availability of housing, the lack of timely and fit-for-purpose public transport, a Government flexible working policy that is simply not fit for purpose and an inadequate response to minor accidents and breakdowns compounded by driver frustration and education and a lack of transport gardaí on our roads. Last week, I called for Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Minister for Transport to set up an emergency response unit for the N7, M7 and other major motorways that are experiencing massive traffic delays. This is already in place on the M50. It is, of course, not a silver bullet but it would allow for better responses to minor road traffic incidents and would help prevent traffic coming to a standstill at rush hour.

Many people in rural Ireland south of the capital cannot get a public bus or train because there are too few options. For many the times of public transport will not allow them to get to work on time. In many parts of rural Ireland, people have no choice but to use their cars to get to work. Where public transport does exist, people are crammed onto trains and are ringing their public representatives to say the bus did not show up. In Kildare South, I am fighting for an hourly train service along the Waterford to Heuston line. This would make a massive difference to people living in Athy, Carlow, Kilkenny and other places along the line. The first train from my hometown of Athy is at 6.41 a.m., with many commuters failing to get to work for 8 a.m. and having to revert to their cars.

The Government’s code of practice on flexible and hybrid working is not working. The call back to the office and the workplace is a problem highlighted by many commuters who have contacted me over recent days. The Government needs to legislate for a real right to flexible and hybrid working. Will it launch a new Operation Freeflow and instruct Transport Infrastructure Ireland to provide an emergency response to accidents and breakdowns on the car park that is the N7 and M7 to reduce the congestion for so many commuters?

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