Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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35. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the BusConnects programme will provide its first low emission public bus; the fuel source of these vehicles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49352/17]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I recently asked about the make-up of the bus fleet and what powers its engines. I got a reply saying the Minister was strongly committed to facilitating the uptake of low emission technologies in the public transport sector, that his Department has established a green public transport fund to support the uptake of low carbon technologies within the public transport sector and that the BusConnects programme will have the entire Dublin fleet converted to low emissions technology by 2030. When will we see the first of these new cleaner vehicles and what will their power source be?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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As the Deputy is aware, BusConnects, which was launched earlier this year by the National Transport Authority, NTA, is a plan to transform Dublin's bus system fundamentally so that journeys for passengers by bus will be fast, reliable, punctual, convenient and affordable. It represents a reimagining of bus transport for the Dublin region. It encompasses the revamping of all aspects of the bus system, including the ticketing technology, the road infrastructure, the bus stops, the network of routes, the fare structure and vehicle emissions.

In budget 2018, I secured a four year multi-annual capital envelope of over €770 million for the BusConnects programme. As part of the BusConnects project, a decision on the optimum fleet technology will be made very soon where either a single technology or a combination of technologies will be selected. A fleet acquisition plan will be developed to transition the bus fleet to low emission vehicle types, with the first vehicles under that strategy to go into service during 2018. By 2023 half of the bus fleet, approximately 500 buses, are expected to be converted to low emission vehicles with full conversion expected to be completed by 2030.

The public transport fleet has a central role to play in promoting and normalising the use of alternative fuels - alternatives to petrol and diesel - within wider society, which is essential if we are to decarbonise the transport sector by 2050. Transitioning the public transport fleet is important for leadership and demonstration. However, according to the latest emission inventory estimates, public transport emissions accounted for only an estimated 4.6% of total land transport emissions. If the Deputy breaks that 4.6% down, approximately 3.5% is produced by buses and 1.1% is produced by rail services.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Last week, the 2018 Climate Change Performance Index was published at the UN climate talks in Bonn. It contained the not-so-surprising claim that Ireland is now the single worst performer on climate change action in Europe. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is a central holder of responsibility for this shameful accolade. What have we been doing with the bus fleet all these years? Dublin Bus responded to one of my questions last week. It stated that of the 1,006 buses in operation, zero operated on electricity, zero were hybrids, 530 were purchased in the last six years and every single one of them runs on diesel. It is a crazy situation. The fumes from diesel engines are lethal to humans. The nitrogen dioxide that is produced forms tiny particulates that can lodge in the lungs and leads to dangerous outdoor air pollution that has become the biggest killer in the world at 3 million deaths per year. If there is any diesel in the make-up of low emissions engines, it would be a disaster. Has the health danger been taken into account by the Minister's Department?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Much of what Deputy Wallace said is right. We are bad performers and we have missed our targets. We do not have a record about which we could hold our heads high. Public transport is a contributor to that. There is no point in denying it. We are making large strides, particularly in the bus area but also elsewhere, with ambitious and renewed targets to remedy the situation of which we cannot be proud. The NTA has published, as part of the overall BusConnects project, its proposals for transitioning the bus fleet in Dublin to low carbon emissions. It intends to seek funding from the green public transport funds for the incremental additional cost of buying environmentally friendly vehicles and envisages that similar vehicles will be purchased for use in the regional cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico have announced that they will ban diesel vehicles in their cities by 2025. We will fall even further behind those cities. Even if we convert to electric vehicles and trains, if the electricity that powers them is dirty and comes from peat, oil, coal and gas as it does at present, we will still have a problem. The burning of coal at Moneypoint will still be happening in 2025 and probably in 2030. We will have coal-powered buses, which is worse than them being diesel-powered. Scotland has increased its power generation from renewable sources from 20% in 2009 to 43% in 2015. In Ireland, in 2015, 8% of our energy was from renewable sources. We seem to be letting the private sector lead us on renewable energy. It is like expecting it to fix the housing crisis. It just will not happen. Unless the State takes a proactive role and gets serious and honest about dealing with climate change, we are not going to change things very quickly. Our record on climate change in Europe is going to get worse before it gets better.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The State takes climate change seriously, as does our Department. It was not taken seriously enough in the past and we had targets which may have been too ambitious but were there all the same. The green public transport fund was established to cover the difference in price between those buses which were diesel-fuelled, hybrids and other forms of environmentally friendly, low emissions vehicles. That fund is part of the carbon reduction programme, to support the uptake of low-carbon, energy efficient technologies within the public transport fleet. The fund is intended to address the price differential to which I referred. Funding will also be allocated from that fund to accelerate electric vehicle uptake rates, following a recent recommendation from the low emissions vehicles, LEV, task force, as part of the 2018 budgetary estimates process. This will include the introduction of a new tolling centre regime to incentivise ultra-low emitting cars. Further details will be finalised by the LEV task force. I acknowledge the Deputy's point and ask him to remember that buses only represent a small part of emissions.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Cars are the bigger emitter.