Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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30. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress made on the national smarter travel policy given targets are due to be reached by 2020; the plans he is putting in place to reach them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39126/16]

Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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The economic recovery will be wasted if it is retained as the only measure of the nation's health. With sewage spilling into our rivers and seas and carbon dioxide emissions increasing year-on-year, our beautiful green island will be green no more. We need to look at our economy through a climate change lens. As the Minister is aware, transport is a vital aspect of climate change. The Minister can be a leader on this matter. I ask him to prioritise the smarter travel policy as a matter of urgency.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Ryan for his question on this issue which I know he is particularly interested in. As the Deputy is aware, Smarter Travel: a New Transport Policy for Ireland 2009-2020, was launched in January 2009. The targets set out in that policy were broad and ambitious. As it turns out, they were over-ambitious.  The goal of the policy was to reduce private car use by increasing the number of people who walk, cycle or use public transport.  Implementation of the policy was to result in reduced congestion and contribute to Ireland's international obligations to reduce carbon and other emissions and contribute to improving public health and quality of life. 

​The targets set out in the smarter travel policy were predicated on significant investment of €4.5 billion. This was in addition to the then approved Transport 21 investment programme.  As the Deputy is aware, owing to the economic and fiscal crises, there was a significant and necessary scaling back of investment, with many projects in the transport area cancelled or deferred, and it has not been possible to direct the funding originally anticipated towards implementing the 49 actions contained in the smarter travel policy. I regret that. Nevertheless, the overarching goals contained in smarter travel remain the cornerstone of our transport policy.  This is recognised and reflected in the Programme for Partnership Government in which we commit to ensuring that the €3.6 billion investment in the public transport system provided for in the capital plan will uphold the principles of the smarter travel policy. The capital plan also specifically commits €100 million in funding for smarter travel and carbon reduction measures.

Progress has been made and continues to be made in encouraging people to use public transport and more sustainable forms of transport. For example, we have seen a significant increase in cycling in Dublin with steady year-on-year growth, with an increase of more than 125% between 2006 and 2015. My Department has invested in a number of programmes and initiatives such as the smarter travel demonstration projects, active travel towns and national cycle network programme and the public bikes schemes.

Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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As rightly pointed out by the Minister the Government of 2009 adopted smarter travel as national policy, which includes the four important targets to be achieved by 2020. None of these targets is being met.

It will be impossible to meet our Paris Agreement commitments without immediate reductions in transport emissions. Transport is the only sector in which emissions rates are still higher than in 1990. Investment in light, heavy and metro rail networks in the next decade will go a long way towards helping us to reach our long-term emissions targets. People will be encouraged to leave their cars at home only if they have a top quality public transport network to get them from A to B. It makes economic, environmental and ethical sense. Dublin today is chock-a-block. It is at maximum traffic capacity. The extension of the Luas is welcome, but we need more. We need metro north along the M1 corridor. We need similar plans to get people out of their cars and onto rail lines and high-speed bus routes. Transport is one of the anvils on which the crisis will be resolved.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I share the Deputy's aspirations and aims. The timetable has gone askew. That is obviously a product of the financial crisis, but that does not mean that we do not still have ambitions. We still have those ambitions and commitments. I accept the fact that if there are clean, good and efficient public transport services in Dublin, it will very definitely contribute towards a reduction in emissions. That is our policy, as one can see. The timetable may not keep the Deputy happy and it does not keep me happy either, but the cross-city Luas service will commence next year, I hope, and it will make a great difference. I have already introduced an alternative fuels infrastructure project to the Cabinet. We have a national mitigation plan which recognises what we are attempting to do in this area within the limited resources available to us as a result of the crash which has certainly thwarted our ambitions.

Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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The Minister talks about over-ambitious targets, but we are now at a critical point at which we have to set ambitious and achievable targets. Recognising the time lost, we need a three-year plan for the period to 2020 and it needs to be launched immediately. I recommend that the Minister task the sustainable transport division in his Department to spearhead this plan in the next three years. Most importantly, it should report every six months on progress. It should set out a project plan with deliverables and timelines and a report on our progress in meeting the targets set should be presented in the House. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, might include such a proposal in his draft climate action plan when he addresses the Dáil tomorrow.

We need to realign investment in the transport sector in order to reduce emissions. That means further investment in cycling lanes, rail and bus services. That is another reason I am concerned about the Minister's statements on Bus Éireann and how they have been allowed to hang in the media. The State needs to be full square behind transport solutions that get people out of their cars. Buses are part of that strategy. We need a clear plan for the period to 2020. We can turn the corner, but the Minister and his colleagues in the Cabinet need to take the lead. The Minister has an opportunity to be a climate justice champion within his brief and the Government. I ask him to seize it.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I love the rhetoric. I would love to be a climate justice champion. It would be a great ambition. Ultimately, the exigencies of the Exchequer make it very difficult to do everything we would like to do in such a short period. I acknowledge that the Deputy has mentioned cycling and other modes of transport. Significant funds are awarded to the NTA and the GDA annually for the delivery of cycling and walking infrastructure in co-operation with the relevant local authorities. Under the sustainable transport measures grant, STMG, programme, my Department provides funding for the NTA for the seven local authorities and the GDA for the implementation of sustainable transport measures which include cycling and walking infrastructure, in addition to quality bus corridors, safety, integration and traffic management projects throughout the region. Funding of €23.2 million was allocated for the programme in 2016 alone. The NTA also manages a similar sustainable transport grants programme, the regional cities programme, in the four regional cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Overall funding for the two programmes in 2016 was €36.7 million. We have made a commitment which is indicated in the programmes. The strategy is ambitious, but it cannot be fulfilled to the extent of meeting the 2020 targets. We are still absolutely determined to make a really serious and significant contribution.

Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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If the targets are not to be achieved by 2020, what is Minister's current assessment of when they might be achieved?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I am glad that the Deputy mentioned that matter. I am meeting the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, tomorrow morning and my officials very shortly to consider what the targets will be. This time we want to make them absolutely realistic. We want them to be within the financial constraints and do not want to overshoot the mark like we did the last time.