Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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We are here today not just to talk about the Salthill cycleway. The decision in Galway on Monday night is the catalyst for a discussion on how we can achieve our climate ambitions. We are here to talk about a fundamental challenge we face. In the past 18 months, I have been privileged to chair the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. We shepherded generational legislation through the Dáil and Seanad and wrote reports on the pertinent challenges associated with climate change and climate action. I am proud of my colleagues on the committee. They have worked tirelessly towards our common goal and continue to do so. While we do not always agree on the approach or on the detail, the fundamental strand running through the work of all members is their seriousness about the challenge we face. Across all political persuasions, week in and week out, my colleagues have done their very best. I can ask no more of them.

I have been concerned for some time that the conversations that have been taking place in our committee have not echoed across our society and that our ambition is not reflected by decision-makers in local government. The decision of Galway City Council on Monday night shows this to be true. It was with great disappointment that I learned the news that the council had opted not to install a trial cycle lane in Salthill, citing a myriad of dubious excuses which, to my mind, amounted to a simple reluctance to remove on-street car parking.

We can talk all we like about the need for climate action and for ambitious targets, and these are very important conversations, but not enough conversations are taking place about the measures that will be required to achieve those targets. It is clear that not enough people are on board with the kinds of measures that will be required. The proposed Salthill cycle lane was a small project, and seemingly a simple one. It was a trial of a temporary cycle lane that could be improved and evaluated. It was to be just a step towards creating a full network of safe cycleways in Galway, just as will be done in every town and city in Ireland in order that people will be able to choose to cycle rather than to drive.

Nearly 40% of transport emissions in Ireland are caused by cars driving short journeys. Many of these journeys could very easily be done by walking or by bike if it was safe and attractive to do so. It is, however, neither safe nor attractive, and people drive these short distances because we have not provided these networks. Most, if not all, of our towns and cities are a car-clogged mess. The more people who drive, the more difficult it is to put in the infrastructure and to make walking and cycling safe. It is a vicious circle that we must and can break. This means taking decisions that amount to change, and which would reallocate road space away from cars. Many of the people who are stuck in cars now will be the cyclists of the future. They are the kids being driven to school, the elderly going to a medical appointment, the person going to get the groceries, the mass goers, the commuters and those going to socialise in town. We have seen elsewhere in Ireland that this transition from car dependency can happen, whether it is in Dublin, in Dún Laoghaire, or in my home city of Limerick. We can point to brave decisions taken by councils that have led to it being safe for people to choose walking and cycling. Unfortunately, these are the exception rather than the rule. We must take a very serious look at the role of local government in delivering this kind of urgent climate action.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I apologise that the Minister is unable to be here himself and he has asked me to respond to this matter. I listened with great interest to what the Deputy said about the situation in Galway. While I am a very strong supporter of more cycle lanes everywhere I cannot, on behalf of the Government, intervene in that particular discussion here in the Dáil Chamber.

The discussion proposed for the Topical Issues matter is the role of local authorities in the delivery of climate action. Local authorities will continue to play an increasingly important role in meeting our climate obligations. In 2018 the Department established four climate action regional offices, CAROs, around the country to drive climate action at a local level. These CAROs have already played a key role in supporting the national climate policy, through co-ordinating the development of local adaptation strategies, through developing the role of the local authority sector in supporting the implementation of climate mitigation policy, as well as through community engagement and contributing to the national dialogue on climate action.

Climate action is a relatively new challenge for the local authority sector and will require new skill sets and capacities to be developed within each local authority over time. In recognition of this, the Department is funding a local authority climate action training programme. More than 9,000 local authority staff received training in 2021 under this programme. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 enshrines the national climate objective to pursue and achieve, by no later than 2050, the transition to a climate-resilient and biodiversity-rich, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral economy.

Section 16 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 sets out the provisions governing the establishment and operation of local authority climate action plans and requires that "Each local authority shall prepare and make a plan relating to a period of five years (... referred to as a ‘local authority climate action plan’) which shall specify the mitigation and the adaptation measures to be adopted by the local authority." The first such plan is to be developed within 12 months of the receipt of a request from the Minister, which request shall be made not later than 18 months after the coming into operation of the Act, and in the case of each subsequent plan, not less than once in every period of five years.

The local authority climate action plans will be progressed in three phases: phase 1 is to establish the evidence base and the delivery of the national Climate Action Plan 2021; phase 2 is the development of the local authority climate action plans; and phase 3 is the implementation of the local authority climate action plan.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 identified nearly 90 actions with dedicated time frames for delivery and reporting in 2021 for which local authorities have direct responsibility or are key stakeholders in their delivery. These actions are currently being developed through local authorities and will be reported on through the monitoring of the Climate Action Plan 2021. Each local authority will be responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from across its own assets and infrastructure, while also taking on a broader role of influencing and facilitating others to meet their own targets. They are entrusted to work through their regulatory and strategic functions to operationalise the ambitious national climate targets and policy at local levels, to help in the delivery of the national climate objective.

The local authority climate action plan is a key instrument that will strengthen the links between national and international climate policy and the delivery of effective climate action at local and community levels. This will be an important measure to ensure the environmental, social and economic benefits that come with climate action are fully realised.

Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the Minister of State's comments on the climate action regional offices. I must add, however, that climate action is urgent and there are projects in the pipeline now, such as the one in Salthill, that amount to climate action and which we need to take very seriously.

We have a national policy that prioritises sustainable transport and mobility over private car traffic. Yet, in Galway, we see local elected representatives actively campaigning against national policy and actively campaigning against their own party policies, as well as an executive that is unwilling to ensure that they meet their responsibilities.

In June 2020, the programme for Government allocated €360 million to active travel, which is a ring-fenced fund. How many kilometres and how much of a cycling network has been built by Galway City Council? The answer is "Nothing". The council, which for decades extolled the virtues of a ring road to alleviate congestion, was given funds to develop a proven solution to congestion but did nothing.

Our local government structures have been undermined for years, with a highly centralised power structure. The forthcoming directly elected mayor for Limerick will be a welcome step, as is the upcoming citizens' assembly to consider a directly elected mayor for Dublin. In the face of the reluctance of local authorities to truly embrace our national ambition for climate action, we all, as Members of the Oireachtas, are faced with a huge communications and community engagement challenge. We need to communicate not only our ambition but also what our targets mean and the timelines in which we need to achieve them. We need to communicate that climate action is now, that difficult decisions are here before us and that they must be taken on the ground, here and now.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I reiterate that I am not able to get involved with the discussion on Galway and the detail of what Galway City Council has done this week. I agree with the Deputy that the change required to deal with climate change can be difficult but I have yet to see people regret the change once it has been made, whether it is electric cars or more footpaths or cycle lanes or, in my own area, the banning of cars from a beach. I think people are pretty happy with that, despite it having been a difficult decision.

The development and implementation of local authority climate action plans are a statutory requirement and a fundamental mechanism to enable Ireland to deliver climate actions. Local authorities are already well positioned at the forefront of climate action in Ireland and currently play a significant role in delivering adaptation and mitigation measures at local and community levels. The phased approach taken to their development and implementation will ensure that local authorities are well placed to deliver on the actions within the climate action plan 2021, while also preparing their own actions plans.

The four climate action regional offices were established in 2018 and will play a key role across the whole local government sector. Local government, in this way, will act as a fundamental link between national policy and engaging communities and individuals across Ireland in tailoring solutions to their area, to realise our ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in a fair and equitable manner. There is no doubt but that action on climate change is not just desirable, which it is, but is extremely urgent too.