Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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11. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 55 of 22 September 2022, the progress on the roll-out of park-and-ride facilities in Galway; the status of the draft park-and-ride study for Galway, and if it has been presented to both Galway city and county councils to date; the status of the site options analysis and feasibility studies for each of the zones identified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55752/22]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Minister has a great interest in the roll-out of park-and-ride facilities in Galway. Will he update me on its status? I believe it has been presented to the city and county councils, so I do not need to put that question. What is the status of the site options analysis and feasibility study of each of the zones identified? I cannot convey my frustration enough at the slow pace of the roll-out.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The NTA has long recognised the importance of high-capacity park-and-ride facilities at designated public transport interchanges and has been providing these facilities as part of the ongoing investment in public transport. To support the timely delivery of park-and-ride sites and a cohesive overall programme, the NTA established the park and ride development office, PRDO, in February 2020. The office provides design services to assist in the delivery of park-and-ride projects across the State.

Regarding Galway, the PRDO has undertaken site option analyses and feasibility studies and is currently preparing a park-and-ride strategy for the Galway metropolitan area. The PRDO engaged with Galway city and county councils to discuss potential park-and-ride sites. A draft strategy was presented to Galway City Council on 10 October and a similar presentation will be made to Galway County Council this December. The draft strategy includes proposals for three bus-based strategic park-and-ride sites, the upgrade and expansion of the rail-based park-and-ride site at Oranmore, and two further possible future park-and-ride sites.

The PRDO is continuing detailed site option analyses and feasibility studies of each of the zones identified and these are expected to be completed in the coming months, taking into account the outcome of the strategy consultation with stakeholders. It should be noted that the development of particular sites will be aligned with the delivery of other supporting infrastructure, in particular bus corridor infrastructure. The NTA expects that the planning consent processes will commence in mid-2023.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Will the Minister at any stage depart from the script and give his opinion on Galway city, which is choked by traffic and one of five cities destined to grow? Park-and-ride facilities have been in its development plans since 2005 and we are now in 2022.

The one glaring error in the Minister's script was the statement that the NTA had "long recognised the importance of high-capacity park-and-ride facilities". No one has recognised it except the councillors in Galway and the people who included such facilities in the city development plan in 2005. Management and the NTA have failed to roll them out. They are only one part of the solution to the traffic congestion in Galway - clearly, the other part is the beginning of a feasibility study on light rail - but the development of park-and-ride facilities will stretch into 2023 or 2024 and there is no consideration of such facilities on the west side of the city at all.

The Minister is committed to public transport. People want to use it. We have a city choked by traffic because all of the eggs went into the basket of an outer bypass, which I never had any time for in the first place and which has gone down another cul-de-sac.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I do not disagree with the Deputy, and never have, on the need for a variety of public transport services in the greater Galway area, in particular Galway city, whose acute problems are, as everyone knows, probably worse than any other city's. The specific locations of the park-and-ride sites, the details of which I presume have been shared with Galway City Council, are at the likes of the M6-N6 junction on the way into the city, the N83 north of Claregalway and Oranmore railway station. For them to work, bus services must be prioritised. If we are going to install park-and-ride facilities for public transport, which is the right approach, then that public transport also has to work. One of the reasons we have included the cross-city public transport link in our Galway pathfinder project is that those public transport services have to be delivered in the next two years. We have set that as a 2025 target in all of our pathfinder projects.

Integration of any park-and-ride service with a wider upgrade of public transport and active travel systems within the city is critical. This has been one of the main issues. I heard what the Deputy said about Galway councillors being supportive, but we must also make difficult decisions on the likes of the N83 and the other approach roads to ensure that the bus priority that we would be depending on worked. That is probably one of the most critical issues alongside the question of how we deliver park-and-ride sites.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I will try to do the topic justice in one minute. Management and Government policy has gone down the route of an outer bypass and pursued no other solution. All of the other solutions are premised on the outer bypass, which is about to be quashed by An Bord Pleanála. A decision will have to be made on whether to send the proposal back to An Bord Pleanála after the board ignored what management in Galway city and county councils called a technical or narrow issue, namely, climate change. That is the mentality that is in charge of transformative action. It is not possible to get transformative action with that kind of mentality. We need leadership. Park-and-ride facilities cannot work without lifting traffic from the roads. Traffic can be lifted from the roads in a myriad of ways, for example, light rail, park-and-ride facilities, school transport, etc.

Today, I heard that the council was finally going to consider a new road for the R336 separately from the outer bypass. It has taken 20 or 30 years for the council to see that it should be considering that route independently.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Again, I do not disagree with the Deputy. I believe in the cross-city link. There is an opportunity for us to show that we can develop alternative public transport systems that work for the people of the city more than anyone else. Visitors are also critical, of course. We need public transport services, active travel and other measures that allow us to meet the climate change targets. The Deputy is correct, in that the scale of change needed to meet the 50% reduction in transport emissions and to reach net zero within three decades is beyond compare. Doing nothing is not an option. Ignoring climate change is not an option. That is not because of national law or European law, but because of the health, wealth and well-being of citizens in Galway. This will be a better system if we go with low-carbon, high-quality public transport, active travel, park-and-ride and other services. It is not impossible. It is a question of political will at local and national levels. I believe the political will exists across all parties, but now we have to deliver on it.