Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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5. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport given that Ireland's economy has been described as improved by the Department of Finance and given that the document, Climate Change Mitigation: Preparation of Low-Carbon Roadmap for Transport, published by his Department in December 2013, envisaged retrenchment in public transport investment due to economic circumstances only until 2016, after which it was hoped to increase longer-term investment in infrastructure, giving Ireland more capacity to support and develop a low carbon economy by 2050, the plans his Department has drawn up for such investment commencing in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45025/15]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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My priority question was my question on workers' conditions in the Dublin Airport Authority and Aer Lingus. It followed up on a question I asked previously and I am disappointed it was not selected for reply.

On the issue of climate change, we are informed that the country's economic performance is improving. We are clearly in a crisis, however, because Ireland will not meet its climate change targets. Transport has a key role in this area. Has the Minister used the additional money that has been found to fast forward investment for next year to get to grips with our abysmal record in achieving our emissions targets?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, it is proposed to address emissions through a national mitigation plan, which will incorporate input from many sectors of government and society in the areas of electricity generation, the built environment, agriculture and transport.  The mitigation measures being considered for transport will be wide-ranging and will focus on policy development, smarter travel and modal shift, supports for alternative fuels and certain fiscal and taxation incentives to target behavioural change.  Public transport projects and investment will form part of this multifaceted response to mitigation from the sector. 

To date, considerable progress has been achieved through measures aimed at promoting improved technologies and changing travel behaviour. With regard to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, a range of energy efficiency measures, including eco-driving, bus and network priority programmes and fleet replacement, have delivered significant fuel savings.  Irish Rail has also introduced a range of measures, including train configuration changes and traction control software on the DART network.

On the specific issue of fleet replacement, Dublin Bus will receive 110 new buses in 2016, of which 80 will be replacement buses and 30 for market growth.

In addition, Bus Éireann will get 72 new buses comprising 11 from its 2015 order and 60 additional buses for replacement and market growth.

Investment in fleet replacement is underpinned by significant investment in the public transport element of the Government's new capital plan, which will reach €3.6 billion in the period 2016 to 2021.  In 2015, I secured an additional allocation of €60 million for capital investment in public transport infrastructure to bring the total capital investment in 2015 to €340 million. A similar amount has been secured for next year and annual allocations will more than double to €845 million in the final years of the plan.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

This funding will be used for asset renewal of the public transport system including the upgrading of bus corridors and the completion of the Luas cross-city project in Dublin. Funds are also being committed in respect of a range of measures which will help to alleviate traffic congestion and promote a shift to public transport away from private cars in the short term, including the building of additional cycle lanes, the continuation of smart technology upgrades, improvements to the DART service and the opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel in 2016. Investment will also be focused on addressing growing congestion resulting from economic recovery and population growth.  Such funding will also enable other major transport projects to proceed, such as the new metro north and the DART expansion programme.

In addition to this investment in public transport infrastructure, my Department is currently developing a new national policy framework to support the uptake of alternative fuels through the development of infrastructure and incentives aimed at increasing the number of alternative-fuelled vehicles, including buses, being used in Ireland.  Within this context and as reflected in the White Paper on energy policy which is being launched around now, it is proposed to establish a green bus fund to support the purchase of cleaner and greener public transport vehicles in the period to 2020.

In the context of our mitigation objectives, the responsibility for emissions reduction is a collective one and, when all sectoral inputs have been co-ordinated, the draft mitigation plan will be available for extensive public consultation before being submitted for approval to Government.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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If that is the best that is planned, we have a serious problem. There may have been more investment in Dublin Bus but fares are increasing and that is making the public transport network less attractive for users. Iarnród Éireann has changed its schedule, cutting out key routes at key times in areas such as north County Dublin which, again, forces people out of the trains and back into their cars. Congestion is back to the boom time levels of 2008. According to the EPA, we will not only fail to meet our targets but will massively overshoot them. What we have had is a huge number of plans but very little substance. Transport emissions are projected to increase by 20% over the period 2020 to 2035. The only two things in the Government's plan to deal with this are electric cars and the move to biomass and biofuel. Let us look at electric cars briefly. The Minister has told us that he will get 50,000 of these on the road by 2020. It is his key plank. There are 1,000 on the road now on the eve of 2016. As such, he tells us that there will be a fiftyfold increase magically overnight. This is not a minor part of his plan, it is actually promoted as the key part along with biofuel. He is nowhere near delivering on either of them.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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It does not matter what I stand up and announce because it is never going to meet the Deputy's approval. She is flatly refusing to accept the reality that investment in public transport is increasing. She talks about plans and their delivery. Let us look at delivery for next year and the opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel, which will have the capacity to facilitate the carrying of an additional 1 million passengers. Let us look at that to which I have just referred. An additional €90 million has already been made available to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to provide new buses. That is happening. The reason the Deputy is so unwilling to acknowledge any of this additional investment is because it comes from a recovery she said would never happen.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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It is because there has been a change in our economy that we have the ability to invest more. We are investing more in longer Luas carriages, new Luas services, including the opening up of Luas cross-city route, new improved train and DART frequencies and greater numbers of buses. In respect of private transport and the need to make private cars more efficient, we are putting in place, and have out to public consultation currently, a new policy on alternative fuels, biomass and compressed natural gas to make more of such fuel sources available for use in private vehicles.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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I am absolutely delighted the economy is recovering, I am just sorry that the statistics show it is disproportionately loaded in favour of those at the top. Those in the middle and the bottom have seen their incomes falling. On the issue of public transport, in which radical investment is needed, metro north was on track when the Government came to power and then it shelved it. While it has now put the project back into development, we have not seen anything on the ground. I see that the Minister chose to ignore the points I made about electric cars, which comprise a key plank of his policy to lower our emissions. It is not me giving out and saying that it is not good enough. The Government's own agency, the EPA, is pointing out that there will be an overall growth in emissions because of our lack of investment in public transport. The Government announced to great fanfare the discovery of billions of extra euro in the Exchequer coffers. When will we see evidence of that to which I refer being front-loaded in terms of delivery. Given that he places such emphasis on them, the Minister might talk about electric cars. How is he going to get the numbers from 1,000 to 50,000? When the Government came to office, the target was 230,000. As such, we are going forwards and going backwards.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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We have had at least a partial epiphany today in that Deputy Clare Daly has acknowledged that a recovery is taking place.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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What we want is a recovery that can be made secure. We want to keep the recovery going and we want more people to participate in it. Perhaps the Deputy will be able to stand up later and acknowledge that an additional 130,000 jobs have been created. Everything is aimed at ensuring that more people can participate in the recovery.

In the context of actual delivery, I am not sure the Deputy wanted to listen to what I said a moment ago. I have already outlined what we are doing in respect of buses alone. Let me deal with electric cars. It is a pity that in her analysis of the issue, the Deputy failed to acknowledge that there are more than 1,000 electric recharging points available across our country and that 97% to 98% of all towns and cities that need the points now have them in place. The infrastructure is in place to enable their growth, which the Deputy completely missed in the points she put to me. In fairness, one of the few points she made that I agreed with relates to the need to look at the use of electric cars and to increase their numbers. That is why the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy White, and I have put in place a new interdepartmental group to consider measures to incentivise the use of these vehicles and to take advantage of the very infrastructure the Deputy did not want to acknowledge in her contribution.