Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) (2022), Redesigning Ireland's Transport for Net Zero: Towards Systems that Work for People and the Planet publication, which highlights that current mobility patterns in Ireland are incompatible with our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets, and calls for transformative, systemic change away from car dependency as a matter of urgency;

— the OECD finds, among other findings, that:

— Ireland's efforts to-date to reduce GHG emissions have focused on policies with a low to medium potential to transform the current system;

— Ireland has a car-dependent transport system, and this system is unfit to help the country meet its GHG emission reduction goals for the sector while improving well-being;

— achieving Ireland's ambitious climate target – a 50 per cent reduction in the transport sector GHG emission by 2030 relative to 2018 – requires transformational change in the direction of a low-demand, high-access and low-emission system;

— Ireland has an opportunity to increase the pace and depth of climate action by refocusing its efforts and attention toward the transformative polices and actions identified;

— the key recommendation of the report is that the Irish transport system needs to be redesigned to become sustainable and improve wellbeing and that needs to be clearly communicated;

— the key message of this report is that refocusing efforts toward transformative policies is not restricted to urban areas; and

— the report acknowledges the new Sustainable Mobility Policy also reflects an effort to move away from a car-centric mentality and includes a number of actions that work toward this outcome but notes that current sub-targets are misaligned with the goal of transforming the system;

— a key requirement of the Climate Action Plan 2021 is that, in order to achieve the national climate objective of net zero by 2050, planning policy must work to "reduce demand for travel by car, travel distances and journey times";

— under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, Ireland has committed to reduce carbon emissions by 51 per cent by 2030, relative to 2018 levels;

— the sectoral emissions ceiling for transport, approved by Government in July 2022, sets an emissions reduction target of 50 per cent by 2030, relative to 2018 levels;

— according to Environmental Protection Agency data, in 2021 the transport sector made up 17.7 per cent of Ireland's GHG emissions, compared to 9.3 per cent in 1990;

— Ireland's transport GHG emissions rose by 6.1 per cent in 2021;

— the Climate Change Performance Index 2022 ranked Ireland in 47th place out of 61 with regard to GHG emissions reduction, making it one of just two European Union countries to receive a rating of "very low";

— Ireland declared a climate and biodiversity emergency on 9th May, 2019, becoming only the second country in the world to do so; and

— 92 per cent of the members of the Citizens' Assembly recommended that the State should prioritise the expansion of public transport spending over new road infrastructure, spending at a ratio of no less than 2:1 to facilitate the broader availability and uptake of public transport options with attention to rural areas;

further notes:

— the long-standing traffic congestion problems in Galway;

— the recent statement on behalf of An Bord Pleanála that the Board will not oppose the Order to quash the planning permission for the Galway City Ring Road, and the acknowledgment by the Board that it failed to take into account the Climate Action Plan 2021 when it issued the approval decision in November 2021;

— the decision by Galway County Council to carry out a feasibility study for a new standalone road for Conamara;

— that Galway City Council has launched an application to the European Commission to become a Net Zero Pilot City, whereby, if successful, it would receive funding to implement innovative approaches to carbon reduction over a two-year pilot programme;

— that a review of the Galway Transport Strategy (GTS) is due to commence before the end of 2022;

— that park-and-ride has not yet been rolled out in Galway, despite it being a core objective of the Galway City Development Plan 2005 and of subsequent plans;

— that the current draft National Transport Authority Park and Ride Study for Galway focuses only on the east and north east of the city, with no provision made for the western side;

— the commitment in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future to balanced regional development, particularly in light of the recently launched partnership agreement between Ireland and the European Commission which acknowledges the categorisation of the northern and western regions as "lagging" regions;

— that the National Planning Framework, published in 2019, envisions that Galway's population will grow by at least 50 per cent by 2040; and

— the urgent need for a new vision for transport in Galway to shift from car dependency to sustainable, accessible public transport and active travel;

recognises:

— that the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications has committed to a feasibility assessment of light rail in Galway, but that this is planned as part of the upcoming review of the GTS rather than as a standalone, independent study; and

— the recent comments by the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, that a previous target of one million electric cars by 2030 will be revised down in the upcoming Climate Action Plan; and

calls on the Government to:

— develop a transformative new vision for transport that will align with Ireland's transport emissions reduction targets, provide sustainable, accessible public transport and urgently reduce car dependency;

— commit, as part of that transformative vision, to the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor;

— commission an independent, stand-alone feasibility study of light rail, including very light rail, for Galway;

— prioritise the roll-out of park-and-ride in Galway, to cater for commuters from all sides of the city;

— improve local rail infrastructure to enable substantial increases in frequency of rail services; and

— designate Galway as a pilot city for sustainable and accessible public transport.

I understand there is no amendment and that the Government is accepting the motion.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Yes.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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That is good news, so we might be able to talk about how the motion will be implemented. The motion arises from the latest OECD report, Redesigning Ireland's Transport for Net Zero: Towards Systems that Work for People and the Planet, which I am sure the Minister has read. I have read it. It is just one in a series of reports issued nationally and internationally of which the Minister is very well aware. We have been told repeatedly, by bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, in Ireland and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, that we will not meet our emissions targets with current policies. The OECD report shines a spotlight on the policies the Government is pushing. It informs us that, with our existing policies, we will not meet our target of reducing emissions. Specifically, it states that "a systemic approach is needed for Ireland to meet its ambitious climate targets and improve well-being".

This motion has national and regional significance but focuses on Galway because it is one of the five cities destined to grow. As the Minister knows, Galway is absolutely choked with traffic. We have had policy after policy on this. All the reports I have from 1999, starting with the Buchanan land use and transportation study, would reach the ceiling in my office. We have a traffic crisis. What is the OECD report telling us specifically when it shines the light on policies? It states:

Policy rarely focuses on improving the structure of systems by redesigning or transforming them. Instead, most policies focus on improving specific parts of the system.

Therefore, we keep tinkering with the system and changing little bits. The example highlighted in the report is that 67% of emission reductions in Ireland are expected to come from developing better vehicles and fuels. In this regard, it states, "Ireland's current sub-targets assign excessive weight to vehicle and fuel replacement, expecting this to account for 67% of the transport sector emission reductions". It claims this cannot happen, for many reasons.

The core message is that transformative change is needed, but needed urgently. Over and over, this message is repeated in the report, which amounts to over 100 pages. Achieving Ireland's ambitious climate target of a 50% reduction by 2030 relative to 2018 requires transformative change. The report describes what transformative change is. Before it was published, the IPCC defined transformative change as "a system-wide change that requires more than technological change through consideration of social and economic factors". Those social and economic factors had never been taken into account. They were certainly never taken into account in respect of the outer bypass in Galway. We are being asked to review targets urgently and redefine success, which is extremely important.

A substantial proportion of the report is devoted to car dependency. It finds that Ireland has a car-dependent transport system that is unfit to help the country to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. It states, "Current mobility patterns in Ireland show that three out of four citizens, on average, opt to travel by car on a daily basis". I find the report comforting in that it asks us not to blame the motorist or others who use cars, because the system has failed. I am paraphrasing in saying the system has utterly failed motorists and others in Ireland by not giving them choices. Despite the lack of choice, we continue with policies that focus primarily on changing the behaviour of the motorist or person on the ground as opposed to the model.

To meet the 2030 climate target for transport electrification, electrification is necessary but insufficient. In this regard, the report argues that "rapid reductions in travel demand and shifts to sustainable modes are needed". Page 100 states:

Because the car-dependent system is also at the source of many other negative impacts, refocusing efforts to shift away from car dependency is also an opportunity for Ireland to align its climate and wider well-being agendas.

Over and over, a key message is refocusing efforts towards transformative change. We need to shift from the car-centric system, which involves breaking the link between economic growth and car usage. I find this particularly significant. If we want to consider how car-centric we are and the lobbying pressure, we need only consider what is spent on advertising per year to sell cars. The report states:

The automobile industry spends between 400 and 600 euros per car sold on advertising ... With approximately 105 000 cars sold in Ireland in 2021, a rough estimate is that investment in car-centric advertising amounted to approximately 50 million euros for the year. By contrast, the Irish government estimates that spending on communication promoting sustainable transport modes [not to mention providing them] will amount to 6 to 7 million euros [per year] ...

The key, of course, is to move away from blaming the motorist, pedestrian or cyclist. Today, staff and many others travelled to the Houses using public transport that is, notwithstanding the improvements made, very difficult to rely on. This report points out that the policies pursued by various Governments have significantly shaped current systems. As they have shaped the bad systems, they have, if they change, the potential to redesign proper, sustainable policies.

The report stated that Government policies have been fundamental to shaping current systems and they will also be fundamental to moving forward. It continues, "Focusing climate action on redesigning systems can provide opportunities for a just transition and for a more just system in the end." There is enormous amount of untapped potential for systems innovation in Ireland. These opportunities will not only improve well-being but will also result in lower energy and materials consumption and fewer emissions. I give all that by way of policy. Those are only some of the issues identified in the report.

I will relate that now to Galway city and the wider region. When I speak about Galway city and the problems and solutions, we cannot deal with problems and solutions without looking at the wider region and, in particular, the western railway corridor, which I am sure Deputy Canney and other Deputies will be talking about. I want to pay tribute to Dr. Bradley for his report, about which unfortunate comments were made at the time. It is an absolute necessity to have the western rail corridor up and running if we are seriously interested in balanced regional development, especially given that the north-west region was demoted less than a month or two ago by the relevant European body. That is an essential. The part that is functioning has functioned extremely well, notwithstanding some teething problems and possible flooding issues. The usage of the railway line between Ennis and Limerick has surprised us all. I do not hear the voices in Dublin that were condemnatory of the waste of money now coming forward and saying that this is wonderful, that they were wrong and that they need to look at it. There is nothing like that.

In this report, the OECD acknowledges that steps have been taken by this Government in the sustainable mobility plan. However, it highlights issues in that regard as well and emphasises the need to build on it. That approach is still focusing on the individual, as opposed to the overall policies that we need to change. The report particularly captures that on page 13, which refers to corporate responsibility. It states, “Systems could be deliberately redesigned to promote and facilitate other choices and trigger large-scale behavioural change which is otherwise unlikely.” It is otherwise unlikely without those fundamental changes.

Going back to Galway in the time that I have left, I cannot express the sense of frustration that motorists and people in Galway feel with the traffic congestion. As an elected Member since 1999, I could line up the reports from the floor to the ceiling – without exaggeration – in relation to putting all our eggs in the one basket of an outer bypass. Regardless of our opinion on that, and accepting that I might be in a minority, the point is we are now at the situation where An Bord Pleanála has agreed that the order should be quashed. We are in a limbo situation as to what will happen next. Will it go back to An Bord Pleanála or will it go back to scratch? What do we do? What have we done since 1999? We have waited for the elusive pimpernel of the outer bypass, and changed to the N6 project that will not materialise. The Minister knows that and what we need to do if we are seriously interested in implementing the climate action plan and all of the other policies.

I refer back to Galway city. We have had no feasibility study on light rail. I have forgotten which year 24,000 people put their names to a petition to say, at the very least, that there should be a feasibility study on light rail. I see one of the plans – I forget which one – “considering” it. It such a weak word. We need a feasibility study on light and very light rail.

We need urgency in relation to the rolling out of park and ride. It has not happened. I have told the Minister it is in the plan since 2005. I believe there is no management will to run that out. They are constantly waiting for the road before anything is done. I acknowledge some of the improvements that have been made but, unfortunately, there has been no transformational change. As the Minister knows, Galway is one of the five cities destined to grow and increase its population by 50%. Yet, there is no overall plan for the common good in Galway. We have a city development plan but we have no overall plan for the common good based around public transport.

Arup was given the brief to look at the N6 project. It was not given a brief to look at public transport and solve our problems through a myriad of solutions other than the outer bypass. I specifically asked Arup staff that question and they said they would have been delighted to do that, had they been given that brief. Subsequent to this, public transport was added on.

Rail services in Galway have never been used to their full potential. We are talking about an extra loop from Athenry to Galway to allow that to develop. This should all have been done, and now that it is not done, it should be number one on the Government’s agenda with a timeframe for it.

The response of the county manager and the city manager to the decision to quash the outer bypass N6 project is profoundly concerning to me. They said they were disappointed that it was refused on such a narrow ground. Does the Minister know what the narrow ground was? They failed to consider climate change. According to our management and leadership, that is a narrow ground and they are disappointed about that. If that does not bring into acute focus the failure to appreciate what climate change obligations require us to do, I do not know what else will. In that sense, the Government needs to take action. There is a need to designate Galway as a pilot project - or any other phrase that the Minister might like to use - with a view to rolling out a comprehensive, integrated public transport system that is embedded in a western rail corridor.

We need to develop a road for Connemara. There was progress on that lately in relation to saying it could now go ahead as a stand-alone project in terms of a feasibility study. Up to now, it was completely tied to a road that was going nowhere.

I appeal to the Minister. This is a golden opportunity. Rather than a disaster, the quashing of the N6 is a golden opportunity to focus on what needs to be done in Galway to make it a green and thriving city and to allow people to travel sustainably.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I do not think that it will come as a surprise to anyone that the 2022 OECD report has found that our current mobility patterns, that is, the movement of goods and people, are incompatible with our greenhouse gas emission targets. The report quite correctly pours cold water on any notion that simply converting to electric vehicles, EVs, will achieve the necessary reduction in admissions; it will not. Even if all vehicles on our roads were electrically powered, there would be trade-offs. There would be a huge increase in demand for electricity, which would make the target of meeting our electricity needs from sustainable environmentally friendly sources much more difficult. Vehicle batteries require lithium. Mining for lithium is water-intensive and contributes to air, soil and water pollution. It is also a key factor in armed conflicts in central Africa.

I understand that the Minister will reduce the target of 1 million EVs, which was never going to be reached anyway. They are simply unaffordable for the vast majority of people. What is needed, as the OECD report states, is a transformation in the mindset as to how we plan for where people live, how they get to work, school, shopping, essential services and social activities and how the goods they need are transported. Above all, we need an end to the dependence on private cars. Three out of every four people in Ireland today use a car for their transport needs, often travelling alone.

The statistics speak for themselves. The transport sector has seen the fastest growth in emissions over any other sector in the past 50 years. It relies on oil for 92% of its energy use and is responsible for 42% of energy-related CO2 emissions. Car dependency has been facilitated by successive Governments closing down rail lines and train stations, extremely low investment in public transport and low subsidies where transport actually exists. The situation needs to be urgently transformed. In 2021, both public and private bus and coach transport accounted for only 3% of journeys and rail was less than 1%. Public transport should be free to provide a real incentive to get people out of their cars.

Free public transport is also needed for those who cannot afford a car.

Alongside making public transport free, we need investment by the State on a serious scale to have a fully connected intermodal public transport system. Free public transport is not an incentive if it does not exist where you live. A fully connected intermodal system means buses, light rail, safe walking, safe cycling and other slow transport modes. It would connect rural areas to main towns and vice versa. It needs to meet local needs, which means real communication with local communities, not the top-down pretence of consultation we saw with BusConnects, which is commonly referred to in Dublin as "BusDisconnects". Closed train lines and stations should be brought back into use. The new public transport system needs to use only sustainable fuels. This means 100% electric or green hydrogen for buses, coaches, rail and light rail. Taxi services should be made electric within a certain framework and plan, with assistance in the form of grants. We need to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of fossil fuel heavy goods vehicles, HGVs, in the movement of goods and we should plan for a series of cargo hubs serviced by rail to reduce road use. There is a need for a national plan for the movement of goods, involving consultation with stakeholders.

Our spatial planning system needs a transformative overhaul. We need to end urban sprawl in our cities and long journeys from commuter belts to work or to avail of essential services. We need a national plan for economic growth at regional levels. To increase the numbers living and working in towns, we need to encourage people in rural areas to live in larger villages with good access to public transport for work and essential services like schools. Such a transformation of our transport system is a tall order but these transformative changes in the way our economies and societies function are necessary if we are to have any hope of reducing, let alone eliminating, the drastic consequences of climate change. In this debate we are dealing with transport but a transformative approach to transport to reduce dependency on private cars and elevate public transport has to be part of an overall transformative movement. This will not come from the likes of COP27, which is yet another failure to deal with the issues. Greenwashing and fiddling about the edges is a road to disaster. We have to end the endless pursuit of growth on a planet with finite resources to simply satisfy the need or greed for profit of the 1%. We must move to a system of a democratic planning to use these resources for the needs of the people. Such a movement will only come from below.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I might share some of my time with Deputy Ó Cuív.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Má thagann sé.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Má thagann sé, mar a dúirt an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. The Government will not oppose this motion because we agree with the central argument set out in Deputy Connolly's speech. The OECD report she refers to is exactly right in that it is system change we need, rather than just tinkering with measures within it. This is a useful opportunity to consider that and to consider how it might apply in Galway if we take it as an example.

On decarbonisation, we have to halve our emissions in this decade and reach net zero in three decades. We are in the middle of reviewing the climate action plan and about to publish the next iteration of it and it seems to me that transport will be the most challenging sector to reduce emissions in. In each of the other sectors, such as energy or agriculture, there is a clear economic opportunity and new technological developments which give us the capacity to reduce emissions in a way that is not as difficult as in transport, where we are going against 50 to 60 years of transport patterns set in place by a transport system that prioritised, as the Deputy says, a car-based private transport system. That is not in any way to criticise anyone who is driving. This will not work if it is a case of pointing the finger and engaging in recriminations but it is a reality that we have created a dispersed and car-dependent model in our transport system. It is no longer fit for purpose, neither in climate emissions nor in good transport planning, because when everyone drives, gridlock arises and that works for no one.

We need to change and to halve our emissions in this decade. In acknowledging that in our programme for Government, the Government clearly set out key system changes that will help us to deliver that change. The first change is a commitment to a 2:1 ratio in new public transport versus new roads. It is taking time to get up to that ratio. It will take a number of years because it takes time for anything to get through our planning system, which means major public transport projects are delayed. However, we are committed to that and it is an important part of the ask. Second, we must commit 20% of the capital budget to active travel, including walking and cycling. We are on target for that, we spent that ratio this year and we are seeing a huge pick-up in the ability of the local authorities to look at devising new projects for same. A third element of the Government's strategy is in the national development plan, where we recognise that we need better balanced regional development, low-carbon development and compact development, in housing as well as in transport. Again I would have to say that if you look at the reality of what is happening on the ground, that is not being delivered. Half of the housing in the country is still in the greater Dublin area and we need better balanced regional development. We need to do that by investing in public transport in rural areas and in our cities outside of Dublin in particular, and that is starting to happen. We are building the metropolitan rail in Cork, we are seeing the start of works to reopen the Foynes line in Limerick and there was a major investment decision two weeks ago in Waterford. There is development but Galway needs to be part of that solution, perhaps more than any other city or county, because I agree with Deputy Connolly that it has perhaps some of the worst traffic problems in our country for a variety of different local reasons which we can go into here and now.

Our sustainable mobility policy is in line with what the OECD report is saying and the national investment framework for transport backs up what the report says. Those policies state that the first priority is active travel, the second is public transport and it is only if you cannot meet your transport needs at that point that you might look at private transport solutions that are car-based with road investment and so on. Critically, there is a hierarchy in investment such that you have to use existing assets first and foremost and look to see if you can optimise the use of existing assets before you make investment in new infrastructure. I want to use that framework to consider what is happening in Galway and as an example of what we need to do there. The Deputy referred to the decision of An Bord Pleanála, which is welcome to my mind, and which recognised that no one can ignore the climate plans. The Deputy referred to Galway City Council and Galway County Council saying that it was a minor issue or a small issue, but in law they now have to devise a local climate action plan that matches what the Government will be doing. It is not just the Government; it is in European law and it will be strengthened. Galway City Council and Galway County Council cannot ignore climate change and they have to start addressing transport plans that are part of the solution. As the Deputy has said, this may provide us with an opportunity to change tack and deliver some of the system change that would make Galway city thrive as a green, efficient and successful city. To do that, we need to accelerate BusConnects in Galway, as we need to do in other cities. The new network will go to consultation in the first quarter of next year and the real question is how quickly we can deliver it because we have seen in Dublin and other cities where we have looked to introduce BusConnects that it takes too long; it takes up to ten years. What can we bring that down to?

I am encouraged that one of our pathfinder projects, which is designed to try to accelerate what we are doing, is the cross-link project in Galway. I know it has only just gone into planning in September so how quickly it can get through An Bord Pleanála is probably one of the key issues that will decide our success or otherwise. However, I am encouraged that there has been a start to the work on the Salmon Weir Bridge and that quite advanced work has also been done on the Dublin Road. That might provide us with the first significant public transport spine that will allow us to start changing the way the city works. It will not be easy and it will require political courage because it is disruptive but I do not see any alternative in how we solve the problems. As part of the updated metropolitan area strategy, which is due to come for Galway, I commit that we will look at light rail.

We will look in real detail at how could we take that cross-city link and fundamental upgrade in public transport in the city and start developing the demand for public transport services that then allows it to evolve and develop into one of the light rail routes that would be successful in the city. I recognise there have also been significant developments in Galway. There is a new hybrid bus fleet there, which is starting as part of the solutions for this decarbonisation.

With regard to the investment in rail - I am sure Deputy Canney will be interested in this - the critical next step is the publication of the all-island rail review. It has been delayed, unfortunately, because we do not have an Executive in the North. When that arises, hopefully, sooner rather than later, it will provide an opportunity for transformative system change to how we use our rail system, seeing as, for example, the reopening of the Foynes lines, which now we are starting with the civil works, could be part, as I said, of a wider sense of what the western rail corridor is. The corridor is not only from Athenry to Claremorris. In my mind, it is from Ballina to Waterford, and using the underutilised rail lines from Waterford to Limerick, and then with new connections to our ports, starts to give the opportunity for industrial development for freight capacity, and passenger services then following when we start to reopen the lines and start to make them work. That is significant but we must await the final publication of the rail review.

In the meantime, we will invest in that passing loop Deputy Connolly mentioned in Oranmore station and in the second platform there, footbridge, etc. We will invest in Ceannt Station, in upgrading the station, putting in new platforms, putting a new waiting infrastructure, etc., because it is critical as part of the compact development of Galway that we have people living in the centre of the city around that station so that we reduce the overall volume of transport needs rather than merely look to make the switch.

I am conscious, unfortunately, of time. We had a good debate here in recent weeks on the issue of park and ride in Galway. The Galway City Council draft strategy was set out on 10 October. We need those bus-based park-and-ride sites. The three of them were set out in that strategic plan as well as an upgrade of the park-and-ride facilities at Oranmore railway station.

I regret that Deputy Ó Cuív is not able to join me on this although I am sure he may contribute later.

The need for the upgrade now of the Galway transport strategy which is due for review this year gives us the opportunity to look at a new way of how we do transport in Galway and to accelerate those sustainable modes that we know we will need. It will require, first and foremost, real leadership from the local authorities in both Galway city and county. We will support that and back it up in every way we can. The national policies complement what they have to do. Collectively, we need to change tack and deliver the system change Deputy Connolly refers to in her motion which is why we agree with it.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the motion and I thank the Independent Group. It chimes very well with the demands regarding the environment and climate and the needs of communities to deliver sustainable transport with a particular focus on public and active travel. There is growing recognition that we need system change rather than to push on individual behaviours. We need a scale of change that we have not seen previously. This requires the institutions of the State and its agencies to get their houses in order and have the focus and energy and strategy to deliver on systemic change.

I support the proposition that Galway act as a pilot. There is much in the motion pointing towards very sensible proposals on park and ride, rail and other mobility methods. The point made by Deputy Harkin is fair. There are principles that can be applied not only in Galway but throughout the State. In our alternative proposal Sinn Féin recognises there are significant opportunities for the State to lead and apply the principle of build-it-and-they-will-come and the principle that when public transport alternatives are there for people and they are accessible, affordable and reliable, people will use them. We do not have to imagine this as a scenario. We see it here and we certainly see it internationally.

We have called on the Government to take a number of measures to realise this. In our alternative budget we called for the reduction of 20% on fares to be made permanent and to extend that to commercial bus operators. We called for a public transport fare reduction of 50% for those aged under 18 and that fares would be made free for those aged under 18 over two years. We called for the expanded roll-out of Connecting Ireland. It is a good plan from the NTA that would see improved bus services for populations of more than 300. The funding commitment is not yet there from the Government. We know the targets for the first year, which is 2022, are being missed.

We have called for an extension of the short hop zones. These are particularly relevant in the commuter belt area around Dublin. We have called for investment in the western rail corridor and the Navan rail project, extending beyond what the Government is doing in the national development plan. These two critical pieces of rail infrastructure would deliver 2.375 million sustainable journeys on an annual basis. We have called for increased investment in accessibility for people with disabilities and increased investment in the public transport accessibility retrofit programme. There is a plan and there are particular challenges with our coach network. This needs to be advanced at a pace. We have called for a dedicated public transport policing unit to ensure people can feel safe on public transport, whether they be passengers or workers. We have called for increased investment in our school bus transport scheme services and fleet. This is to ensure school bus transport would be widely available, we would not refuse thousands of children every year and the buses would be up to standard.

I want to touch on how the principles and motion might apply to my county of Meath. We need investment in the Navan rail project. I know from the response to a parliamentary question that I received this morning from the NTA that the greater Dublin area transport strategy is with the Minister. He needs to sign off so the ball can get rolling on the Navan rail project. Funding needs to be allocated to the project. If Sinn Féin were in government, the project would start now and not after 2031 as the Government intends. We need an improvement in services in County Meath. In the past 24 hours, scores of people were waiting at bus stops for the 105X, 103 and NX. This is not acceptable and it needs to be addressed.

Connecting Ireland needs to be rolled out and expanded. Of course the hot topic of the day is incentives for people when the alternatives are not there.

We have tolls in Meath, where there is a double toll on the M3. Drivers have to pay two tolls to get from Kells to Dublin. There is also a toll on the M1, which has an impact on the behaviour of drivers on that road. We have congestion every morning, which people will be familiar with if they listen to traffic reports. Kilmoon Cross is famous for traffic jams in part because traffic diverts off the M1 to avoid the toll. I call on the Minister of State to ensure the toll increases do not take effect at the start of January.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Galway city traffic has been an issue for as long as I can remember and it does reputational damage to the City, nationally and internationally. When a person mentions they are from Galway, it is often the butt of a joke. As Galwegians, we know when traffic will be worse and we always factor that into our daily commute. While reputational damage is frustrating, what is really frustrating for those people is the real-life impact on their lives as a result of the traffic. For a person living on one side of the city and working on the other, the lack of public transport options, particularly the lack of direct links across the city, is truly shocking.

Other elected representatives and I have long been calling for more frequent bus services, particularly at peak times, affordable fares and a modern and more efficient approach to ticketing. Four weeks ago, I talked in this Chamber about university students living in Connemara because of the lack of affordable or, indeed, any accommodation in Galway city, who are missing morning lectures as there is no bus that will get them in on time. We do not have a suitable and effective public transport system in Galway.

I have heard reports from the east and west of the county, as well as from the city, of people being left on the side of the road because buses were full. Another issue we have is that those bus stops are often not suitable or sufficient for modern-day Ireland. We know it will rain and we know people will be waiting at bus stops, but we do not have proper protection for them.

People in Galway see announcement after announcement about new night services on bus routes in Galway, while we are still waiting for a single night bus in Galway. This is despite the fact there is a proper campaign seeking night services in Galway. The aforementioned students, who rely on public transport to go out in the evening, would benefit from such a service. People who are no longer able to live within Galway city limits, because they cannot afford it and have moved outside the city bounds, would benefit from a night service, as well as the many people who work night shifts across the city and county.

I have seen two recently proposed housing estates in Galway city being denied planning permission because the location of the site is deemed to be too car-dependent. This raises the question why there are places in Galway city that do not have access to public transport in 2022.

A 90-minute fare can be bought in Dublin so that if a person needs to transfer, he or she is not required to pay a full fare twice. Many commuters in Galway need to get from one side of the city to the other for work. It is impossible do this by bus without getting a transfer, which leaves them paying two full fares per journey if they choose to commute by public transport. Compounding this issue is the fact that on the west side of the city, people are reliant on a privatised bus service. If residents wish to use public transport, they have no other option but to use the private service. This presents a problem if we want to bring in a 90-minute fare for Galway. As it stands, people in Knocknacarra would have to pay a higher fare to get a private bus to the city centre and then pay a full fare on a public bus to reach their destination on the east side of the city, and this is completely inadequate. The people of Galway deserve so much more in terms of bus services.

While bus services are extremely important, especially for people within the city bounds and those coming from rural and isolated areas, they are not the only tool needed to improve public transport in Galway and across the west. We have to prioritise reopening the western rail corridor and provide rail links for communities along the west coast. We in Galway have been waiting for a feasibility study to be carried out. My great granddad worked on that rail corridor, so my extended family are acutely aware of the role is has had and could have. Opening the western rail service would no doubt enhance the travel options for people across the west, as well as allowing more people to live in the more rural and isolated areas, so that there is not an intense, continuous pressure on our cities such as Galway city.

We have also seen that a decision on the ring road has once again been delayed. This has been going on for several years. At this stage, many people feel completely frustrated by the lack of progress. The most frustrating thing is that often all else is left in anticipation of a decision on this road. Without it being progressed, little else is happening. I ask the Minister of State to take on board my suggestions.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the motion and thank the Independent Group for tabling it. The vision set out would serve the people of Galway and the west well. I welcome, as always, the inclusion of the western rail corridor. It is rightly one of the key demands of the motion.

This is yet another motion from the Opposition calling on the Government to begin construction. It is a turn-key project and all the planning is in place. With political will, we could commence the work in a matter of months. The western rail corridor has the potential to revitalise western communities, provide alternative transport options for people and deliver much-needed regional connectivity. The western rail corridor has become a byword for regional development and investment in the west. We have to maximise the potential of the Atlantic economic corridor with sustainable investment in the western rail corridor, Ireland West Airport, telecommunications, roads and education infrastructure.

I welcome the announcement this week that the northern and western regions are set to receive investment of €217 million, up to 2027, through the European Regional Development Fund. They recognise what needs to be done to support regional development funding because of the disadvantage in the area and the state the west of Ireland, and rural Ireland, is in. However, without the western rail corridor, what can be done in those regions will be limited. It is the elephant in the room. Everything will be constrained until we get the western rail corridor open. The publication last year of the economic report by Dr. John Bradley confirmed what Sinn Féin has been saying for years, that there is a strong business case for the western rail corridor and that it should be reopened and prioritised as a capital infrastructure project. It is a huge source of frustration given the repeated failures to progress the project. For Mayo regional development, it is no longer an optional extra, but an urgent necessity.

The west and north west was downgraded to a lagging region by the European Commission after it became significantly poorer relative to the European average and this is why the extra funding is coming. We have to reopen the western rail corridor. The current unprecedented hikes in the cost of fuel reinforce the need for improved public transport services in the west, with rail connectively being a top priority. Investing in public transport is also needed from an environmental standpoint. We are telling people that they cannot cut turf, but we will not open the western rail corridor that would take so many cars and other vehicles off the road.

The Environmental Protection Agency has already warned the urgent implementation of climate policies is needed for Ireland to meet its climate targets. It said that if additional measures are not taken before 2030, just 11% of the reduction in carbon emissions will be achieved by then. The sectoral emissions ceiling for transport, approved by the Government in July 2022, sets an emissions reduction of 50%, relative to 2018 levels, by 2030.

The Green Party has been in government for two and a half years. What progress have we seen on public transport? We need to this to happen and everyone needs to get behind it. There is cross-party support for this project but the Government is needed. There are now three parties in Government and I know that the Minister recognises this. We cannot have a situation in which the DUP holds up the all-island rail review. It cannot be used as an excuse not to reopen the western rail corridor. The Minister also needs to make it clear that the line will be protected in Sligo and that the greenway will be financed separately. The two complement each other and one should not be given preference over the other.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the fact that we are discussing this. It is vital sometimes that we deal with specific issues relating to geographical areas such as Galway. We know there has been much in the public domain about getting the public transport system in Galway where it needs to be. I am sure people realise I am not from Galway. I am very glad this is being discussed and dealt with but it fits into the wider conversation on public transport.

I am not sure where to start. We welcome the reduction in fares. Everybody accepts and sees the benefits of ensuring we get more people on to buses. As has been said by a number of my colleagues, we need to deal with the school bus transport system. We cannot have the scenario we have every year in that, depending on the numbers who apply, we have a scramble around and all of us making representations to Ministers. In such a scenario there will be people carrying out walks to school and others following in their cars, just in case their kids are put off buses and all the rest of it, which has happened in Annagassan, County Louth. We need to make sure those pieces are dealt with.

Beyond that, we all know that planning issues need to be dealt with. The Minister spoke previously about almost natural selection with regard to the planning process. We need it streamlined in order that the particular capital projects that are needed get done. There are worries in my constituency in respect of the N53. We have the calamity that is An Bord Pleanála at present. There is a difficulty getting an oral hearing and there are worries with regard to finances and making sure necessary infrastructure is put in play. We need to look at how we do the entire design process between local authorities and all the other stakeholders. The Ardee bypass is another project that has never been brought to completion. However, some constituents have issues, which, again, is where we always fall down by not engaging sufficiently with the community beforehand.

I had a decent interaction with the Minister regarding the R173, which is the road out to the Cooley Peninsula, especially on safety measures that are needed at the Bush and Bellurgan schools. He agreed with it but the entire process is flawed. I could also talk about necessary works that need doing whether they are in Knockbridge or Shelagh or between St. Malachy's and the national schools there. We just need to improve the way we are dealing with the process.

We need to engage with all the stakeholders with regard to buses, that is, the private coach operators. My constituents raise the issue of Bus Éireann and particular difficulties with the 100X. It is not necessarily making the timelines. People from Dundalk would use that bus to make flights at the airport. We have a considerable number of issues to deal with across the board.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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It is great to have an opportunity to speak on the motion, although I do not profess to have any great insight into the Galway transport system. However, the proposer, Deputy Connelly, and, indeed, Deputy Farrell as Deputies for the area and the detail of the motion highlight the fundamental need for a bottom-up approach to a transport model that works for Galway. It is a wonderful city on our west coast that is choked by traffic.

I visit Galway city and the county a lot. I love the city and love visiting the county but visiting is difficult and it is clear that Galway is being strangled by the volume of traffic that has to through the city. We need a public transport-led approach, which is where the motion comes from. We have to be clear that, no more than ourselves, the Independent Group has one Private Members' business slot every seven or eight weeks. The business to be taken is a difficult choice and one into which an awful lot of thought goes. An extra decision has to go in to picking regionally-focused debates for Private Members' business. However, the important thing with regard to this is that unlike other areas of the country, the transport system in Galway makes national news on a regular basis and not for the reasons the people of Galway wish.

The most recent issue was that of the much-planned ring road, which is now in stasis and, previously, there was the Salthill cycle track. The two issues are separate and not to be conflated, but they are bound together by the fact that Galway needs a transport system that works and meets the needs of the people who live in the city and those who live around it. I have been in contact with our councillor in Galway, Niall McNelis, for as long as I have been a Deputy and spokesperson on transport, about the two issues I have mentioned and many others. Councillor McNelis tells me Galway is a medieval city and to access it, people have to cross bridges over the River Corrib, and the streets are narrow.

The situation is difficult when the city is heavily reliant on cars and does not have a fit-for-purpose public transport system. Galway now has many commuter-belt towns. People in towns such as Spiddal, Knocknacarra, Barna and Carraroe are daily commuters into Galway from the west side of the city and there are others in towns on the east side. We do not have the facilities to cater for them and they are using cars to get into the city, which chokes it up.

Regular travellers to Galway from Dublin or anywhere else will make a decision, if they have to get to Connemara on the far side, about whether they will leave at 5.30 a.m. to beat the traffic. Travellers to Galway know they will get to the city quickly on our motorway system but once they get there, they have to decide whether to try to beat the morning traffic or wait until off-peak hours. That is an incredible decision to make. Anyone who travels to Galway, no matter what distance from the city, makes those decisions. This is why the motion is important and of national significance.

The western rail corridor is a potential game changer for the entire western seaboard and Galway, at the mid-point of the corridor, will play a vital function in ensuring its success. I have no doubt the western rail corridor would be a success were it to be fully reopened. It would also help unlock a north-western rail corridor that would run from from Sligo up through County Donegal, which has no rail service whatsoever, right into County Derry. These are the opportunities that could open up if we had a public-transport-led approach to the western seaboard. Galway would be a fulcrum in that regard.

There are plenty of opportunities but in speaking to people in Galway and listening to the contributions from Deputy Connolly, there seems to be a sense of the unbelievable about anything happening. There have been an awful lot of promises, strategies, pilots and feasibility studies but all we are getting is more cars and not enough infrastructure to follow. I know of projects in my constituency, be it a big project such as MetroLink or a small one such as the coastal greenway, which people have been wanting and know have been needed for years but, ultimately, they feel that the projects will not happen because they have been let down so often.

However, we cannot allow the city of Galway and, indeed, our western seaboard to continue to be let down. We need investment. This is a perfect example of an historic, growing city that needs an active travel- and public transport-led approach to solving the traffic congestion there. I hope the Government takes on the bona fides and calls within the motion. It is an excellent motion that we support.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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We are here less than a week after the end of the COP27 summit, which was held in the midst of a climate crisis that is growing worse by the minute. It was held to address the extinction-level threat to our planet. The summit will ultimately be marked by the absolute failure of ambition. There was no ramping up of climate mitigation measures, no progress on ending fossil fuel use and no agreement on greater cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. This failure of ambition cannot just be put down to being a consequence of the difficulty in finding common ground between all the world's nations. We can see the same failure of ambition domestically. Ireland's carbon emissions are still on the rise. The Government has not met a single sectoral target that it set to achieve the 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. In 2021, transport greenhouse gas emissions rose by 6.1%. Galway is a case in point for this failure in ambition.

There is no doubt that solutions need to be put in place to combat the level of congestion in Galway city centre, but the proposal for a ring road is a solution from a different era. The planners of Galway city ring road acknowledge that it would do little to relieve congestion, with longer average journey times anticipated due to an increase in the number of private car journeys. They stated that there would be a significant negative impact on carbon emissions and the climate.

A key requirement of the 2021 climate action plan is for the planning framework to reduce demand for travel by car, travel distances and journey times, none of which will be achieved by that ring road. This is not just a suggestion but a legal requirement for planning policy. The five cities demand management study aimed to identify avenues to reduce demand for private car travel in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway. The study found that additional road infrastructure will not solve the issue of congestion in most cases and that, in medieval cities such as Galway, there is little space to do so anyway.

The general pattern that has been observed over time is that additional road capacity leads to additional car-based travel, resulting in an increase in emissions, congested roads and even greater environmental damage. I am not anti-road, despite how often that label is thrown at people who are supportive of public transport. Roads are essential for bus-based transport or to build cycle networks.

For a century, the transport strategies of the State have been about ripping up railway infrastructure and prioritising cars. Time has moved on and our transport strategies need to move on with it. The solutions are straightforward and involve reliable, affordable and accessible public transport networks. I underscore that networks must be reliable. Galway City Council launched an application to the European Commission to become a net zero pilot city. If successful, it would receive funding to implement innovative approaches to carbon reduction over a two-year pilot programme. There is a significant opportunity to transform Galway's transport system if some ambition and political willpower is shown by the Government.

Park and ride was core to the development plan in 2005. That has not happened. There is great support, ambition and desire for a light rail project. A feasibility study did costings for a Luas-style heavy tram system about ten years ago. Since then, there have been innovations in very light rail in other locations. A light rail system was designed and trialled in Coventry, which is innovative since it requires a shallow track. It does not interfere with utilities that are buried underground. This makes it much cheaper to build and install. Light rail has been much more effective than buses at convincing people to forgo their cars in favour of public transport. Part of the reason for that is that people feel they are less likely to get stuck in traffic on rail systems during peak times. We talk about rush hour but we now have rush hours because it has become much longer. Some of that relates to failures. We hear a new term, "ghost buses", used to refer to buses that do not show up. Reliability has become a real problem. It forces people back into their cars. That is happening all over the country.

One can see the faith people place in the reliability of rail transport. People change their behaviour when it is provided. People will buy or rent houses along a rail line and often forgo the need to own a car. We can see that in other jurisdictions which have good public transport systems. Buses are necessary in that they are faster to roll out and can reach areas that rail will never be access. Rail has an unmatched psychological impact in making people switch over from daily car use.

Buses need to meet the needs of commuters, not the needs of organisations like the NTA, which tell people to take it or leave it. Where something does not work, organisations need to come back in to redesign it. I could not be more critical of the NTA's ability to resolve problems after it has designed something that simply does not work. I underscore that part, though not all, of the BusConnects system does not work and will not work.

The all-island strategic rail review and the programme for Government both committed to considering reopening the western rail corridor. It would be an essential transport artery, connecting communities across the west and north west. The opening of phase 1, from Ennis to Athenry, was a proven success, with 531,000 passenger journeys recorded in 2019, in the last record that was produced. We had an opportunity for balanced regional development in the last 25 years. Let us not lose it in the next 25 years. In the last 25 years, Dublin city's share of the population fell from 13% to 11%. The share of the three other Dublin counties grew from 15% to 16%, while the share of the outer counties, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, grew from 9% to 12%, stretching out the commuter area. Between them, these counties account for 39% of the national population, which has grown much bigger. They accounted for 35% of a smaller population 25 years ago. We are going the wrong way with balanced regional development. Deliberate moves, including public transport, need to be taken if we are to encourage people to relocate and achieve balanced regional development.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the Independent Group for tabling this motion. How we deal with the central issues of transport, climate change and future planning for our society is important for Galway and every region and city in the country. This morning, I listened to an interview with an economist about planning our economy. He was critical of the approach taken by the Government on all levels. One example he used was the lack of planning related to climate change. The obvious point was that it is inevitable. It will happen and will hit us in the form of serious flooding. We all know there are clear signs that sea levels and the levels of rivers, lakes and so on are rising. Rural Ireland will be severely hit without any planning to prevent or deal with the drainage and flooding issues, which need urgent planning. The economist said that when he talks to senior Government officials about these issues, their attitude is that they will look after it when it happens. They said they did not know Covid was going to happen and that they looked after it. They turn a blind eye to the need for forward planning. This motion creates a realisation of that need.

The importance of reopening the western rail corridor cannot be overstated.

Anyone who is into hiking or walking around the country, as I am, realises there are so many disused railway tracks around this country. They should never have been closed in the first place but as they have been, there should be a long-term attempt to reopen them and have positive effects on the greater region, especially in the west, to expand the vision of what our railway network could look like. I do not mean what it could look like in 100 years' time, because we do not have that much time, but what it could look like in the next five or ten years. We have to think big for climate and for our future and see the western rail corridor extending beyond Sligo to Letterkenny and on to Derry. For all the talk we have about a united Ireland, an attempt at providing the infrastructure on the ground that could join the two jurisdictions in a real way for people via frequent rail services accessing all parts of the nation would be a very concrete, pardon the pun, way of demonstrating what a united Ireland could look like for ordinary people.

If I lived in Galway and faced constant traffic jams, I can I imagine I might end up supporting the demand for a ring road, but we must learn lessons of roadbuilding both here and globally. I have just finished reading an excellent book entitled Road to Nowhereby a young man called Paris Marx. He is from Canada and summarises the experience in North America throughout the last century of dependence on the private car. We are aware of the huge impacts total dependence on cars for mobility have on climate and CO₂emissions but less well-documented are the effects on the communities and the lives of people . The endless demands for more and better roads do not provide a solution for the problems people face. Time and again we have been shown roads simply lead to more cars and thus more demands for wider and better roads. This applies as much to Galway as it does to the history of North America. Cities are littered with examples.

A better use of the funds for the ring road would be the provision of a light rail system. It would be a much better and more attractive option to people. As has been proven around Dublin, it would be even more attractive than the bus services. Access to park-and-ride facilities is important within that. Although we focus on the standard rail service, a light rail service would have a far quicker and bigger impact on a city like Galway. We should enhance the bus services, but do so in a way that works and not in a way, as the previous Deputy said, that BusConnects has done in this city. A total bags has been made of the proposal to extend the service and it has been made worse for ordinary people trying to socialise, or get to work, college, or hospital appointments. Galway is an immensely congested town and needs a new deal. Like many towns it needs proper public transport and specifically it needs services that will link the population of the west of the city, such as Knocknacarra, Barna and Salthill, to the industrial hubs to the east around Parkmore and Ballybrit.

The blocking of the proposed cycle infrastructure was not a good idea and was very regrettable. The issues facing Galway are replicated in every town and city across the country, and the solutions are the same. We cannot lecture people about the importance of changing their personal habits when in most cases people do not have options for getting to work, college, hospital or out to socialise.

Our dependence on the car is not an accident. It has been carefully engineered by massive interests in car manufacturing and the fossil fuel industry. Car dependence has shaped our cities and urban environment, largely to the detriment of local environments and communities. It has hollowed out town centres and placed shopping centres in suburban areas that are built to accommodate more cars and indeed more people. We know the cost of reshaping our world for the private car in terms of climate change, air quality and the lives lost and injured as a result of accidents on the roads. We have no choice but to rethink those mistakes and look beyond the car as a solution to public transport issues.

The solution cannot be electric cars. They are a wholly unsustainable answer pushed by the Minister for Transport and this Government in a harebrained scheme to replace 1 million private cars with 1 million EVs. I am glad that plan has been dropped but we must reshape public transport in a radical and revolutionary way. Public transport must massively expand and we must adopt the idea of free public transport. This has already been done in over 100 cities and regions globally and there has been a major impact not just on the mobility of people through those regions and cars being taken off the road but also in improving quality of life, air quality etc. The impact on this country would be immense and make climate action seem more real and positive for many people. However, it cannot be on the basis of the sort of half thought-out unrealistic planning that has been carried through by the NTA. I am very critical of the authority. It has let us all down badly. It has gone ahead with plans, especially around Dublin and the BusConnects programme, in a way that has sometimes left people totally stranded but also wholly bewildered about what is happening with this State and our transport system. Let us not do that to Galway. Let us take the motion put forward by Deputy Connolly and her group as a template for how we should be dealing with the problems of traffic congestion, road use, climate, the environment and the mobility of people throughout our cities and towns. Such a template could be used elsewhere as well.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I compliment Deputy Connolly and the Independent Group for bringing forward this important motion. Last week we sent a letter about the western rail corridor to the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Transport to urge the Government to reactivate the reopening of phases 2 and 3 of the line from Athenry north through Tuam and on to Claremorris. For the Minister of State who is here, that letter was signed by over 110 Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas across all parties. Therefore, there is political support for the reopening of the western rail corridor. I am delighted the Government has not opposed the motion.

On the corridor being part of the motion, I was concerned when the Minister said a decision on the all-Ireland rail review has been delayed due to there not being an Assembly in place in the North. I ask the Minister and the Department of Transport to do something different. A draft has been prepared of the rail review. The western rail corridor is a particular section within the south of Ireland stretching from Claremorris down to Athenry. If a decision was made to clear that line and commission the rebuilding of the bridge at Ballyglunin we would be making a start at providing the infrastructure. Usually public infrastructure takes between five and ten years to develop but here we have a ready-made project. No planning permission is required. It is a replacement of the line just as we are doing between Limerick City and Foynes Port, where work has now started. I applaud the Department and the Minister for getting on with that work. This is another project he can do now. Further, the Minister should make it categorically clear the line north from Claremorris to Sligo is protected for rail until a decision is made on extending the railway up there. If a greenway is to be put in it should be put in complementary to, rather than instead of, a rail line.

I live in Tuam in north Galway. Many people commute from east and north Galway to work in the city. Back in 2008 Noel Dempsey opened a bus lane from Lough George into Claregalway and that was phase 1 of a bus lane to bring people into the city. We have private bus operators bending over backwards to bring people into work on buses and doing a great service against the tide. We are almost in 2023 and we still have not commenced phase 2 of that bus lane. We have buses competing with cars on the same lane. People are effectively voting with their feet and taking their cars rather than the buses because then they can use the rat runs all around the place to try to get into work more quickly. We are therefore doing an injustice to ourselves by not completing that bus lane. Incredibly, there is no land required. We have done about five feasibility studies and every other kind of economic analysis of it but we have not gone and done it. It is something the NTA, along with the local authorities, needs to get done as quickly as possible.

Another bugbear I have is our planning system seems totally alienated from our transport needs. I have two examples. One is in Gort, where an application was put in for a residential project right beside Gort station.

Galway County Council was very excited about the project, yet when it came to planning permission it refused to give it. Back in the 1980s, Michael Kilgannon, a councillor, lay on the railway line to keep Woodlawn Station open. The station is still open but we had the ridiculous decision by the Planning Regulator and the Minister to direct that Galway County Council should not zone land in the area for residential development. That is an incredible decision at a time when we are trying to get people to use trains.

Yesterday evening a man who resides in north Galway rang me. His daughter goes from Craughwell down to Limerick for study. Every Sunday evening she gets on the train and she has to stand. There are at least 30 people in Craughwell trying to get onto a train that has three carriages. At this stage, her parents are contemplating bringing her down by car on a Sunday evening and collecting her on Friday evening because she works over the weekend at home. That would be easier than using the train. This is a line that RTÉ made a skit about a number of years ago because it reckoned nobody was using it. Today, it is the fastest growing line in phase 2 of the western rail corridor. We are now in a position where we are demanding more carriages to bring more people on it. If we are to change our transport mode from the car to other modes, we have to start with our youth. If we give them a good experience on the train or the bus, they will remain with it, but if we do not, their first objective when they get a job will be to save enough money to buy a car so they will have their independence. That is the mindset we have to change.

I was at the Galway county hurling final last Sunday and the traffic around the city was absolutely horrific. This was on a Sunday so there were no businesses open except the Christmas market in the square, the county final and whatever else was going on in terms of shopping. To get in and out of the city was a pure nightmare. I got from Tuam up to the outskirts of the city in about 20 minutes and it took me about an hour to get from there to Salthill. That is just not on for people visiting the city, whether on a Sunday or on any other day. There is a site at Carnmore of 135 acres. It is owned by Galway City Council and Galway County Council. I cannot for the life of me understand why they have not put a park and ride facility there and created a bus corridor into Parkmore to bring people to work rather than having them sitting in a big car park all along the roads leading into the city. I cannot believe the councils still have not done something about that. There seems to be some lack of understanding there, or maybe a lack of vision for what is needed.

The outer bypass will not happen in the next ten to 15 years, if ever. We will probably spend another €32 million doing reports. In the meantime, if we spent that money on making changes to our transport and facilitating buses and rail, we would actually do something to help the traffic situation other than creating more layers of paperwork. We are blue in the face talking about this. The bottom line is that if we do not act now, we will end up talking about this again in ten years with no changes. Galway city and county will be the loser there, as will the whole region. I thank the Minister for accepting the motion today but that is not enough. We need firm action immediately.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I welcome this Private Members' motion brought by my colleagues in the Independent Group. The M18 linking Limerick and Shannon Airport to the city of Galway has been an essential piece of infrastructure. However, not all is great. First, there are no services on that stretch of road. Not alone are there no services but there is no signage to direct people to services. It took eight years for junction 12 to get signage for services. My God, is it coming to that? Build it and they will come, yet we are not allowed to put up signage to direct people to services. A colleague of mine drove from Limerick to Mayo. They needed services but did not know where to come off because they did not know how to get back on the road again because of the directional signs. It is simple stuff but no one knows if it is there in the first place. People get to Tuam and there is no signage for services. Last week, we were told there were no services or signage from Limerick to Mayo. This is the responsibility of TII. Rural Ireland is again missing out. There is no signage to help smaller towns. I understand from my colleagues that people are shopping in Ennis, Athlone or Tuam - anywhere except driving into Galway due to the lack of infrastructure for the wonderful city of Galway. No infrastructure has been put in place to get people into Galway and there is no signage to direct people to the services that are in those areas to help people on their route.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Independent Group for giving us this opportunity. Earlier, the Minister boasted that he had spent so much money on footpaths and cycleways. That is fine where they are needed around towns and villages but what good is a cycleway, walkway or footpath in a place like Gneeveguilla or Shrone where it takes half an hour to go to work or wherever else in the morning and people have children with them and everything else? What benefit is that to those people? It is absolutely ridiculous.

The Government's primary focus is on electric cars. We have to acknowledge that the batteries for these are made by child labour and slave labour in the Congo. Is the Government proud of that? There are other options, like biofuels that can be added to diesel that bring the emissions way down. The Government will not listen to those people. They have been in here to speak to us and the Government will not consider that option. Back in the mid-1970s, petrol cars could be converted to use the same gas used in cooking or whatever. There are very few emissions from that. The Government does not want to hear about it. People could use their same cars and they would be reducing emissions but it does not want to listen to that.

A lot of people have to travel on the train from Killarney to Dublin. We have gone backwards with that service because before now people could get a cup of tea or coffee but there have been no canteen facilities on that train now for a number of years. It is backwards we have gone there. I ask the Minister of State to see what is wrong and at least give people making that journey of three and a half hours a cup of tea.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I thank the Independent Group for putting forward this very important motion on transport. It refers to the net zero emissions pilot project in Galway. The unfortunate situation I find myself in, in the constituency of Cork South-West, is that there is zero transport. Forget about zero emissions; it is zero transport. In many of the towns and villages where there is zero transport, it is nothing short of a crisis. From Dunmanway to Clonakilty via Ballygurteen, there is not any type of transport service, and these are populated areas. From Castletownbere down into Bantry, Kilcrohane, Durrus and Goleen, there is nothing. There is a bus that leaves Goleen at 7.30 a.m. and that is it until the night when it comes back again. It is "live, horse and you will get grass" as far as rural Ireland is concerned. This Government has been in place for two and a half years. It has delivered zero in relation to transport in west Cork. There are proposals but proposals are not a transport service on the ground.

I brought this issue up yesterday. I plead with the Minister of State to intercede in the matter of the Skibbereen test centre. Young people are trying to get driving tests because that is all they have. The only transport they can get is a car. It looks like the test centre could be cut down to one week a month. The RSA will not clarify that. The Minister will not clarify it.

Nobody seems to be able to clarify it. It has been said that it will stay open. What good is that if it is not operating properly? There were two full-time testers this time last year. One left in the past 12 months and the other is due to leave on 23 December. Where does that leave people who applied for tests two weeks ago and were told they would have a test within three months? They have now been told it will take six months for a test in Skibbereen. There is a serious issue there that needs to be resolved.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. When it comes to transport and roads, despite what other Deputies have said in the county I am from, we need more roads, accessibility and bypasses. I want to wish the politicians from Galway well in what they are trying to do.

In County Kerry, we need a bypass for the bypass in Killarney, to link to Farranfore and Tralee. We need a link road from Lissyviggeen to the Muckross Road. The Kenmare bypass needs to be completed. We need a relief road and second bridge for Killorglin. Work needs to be done at the junction at Portmagee, where a new road alignment is required. The Listowel bypass needs to be completed, something which is under way. The Macroom to Baile Bhuirne bypass is under way and needs to be completed. We want progress to be made on the Milltown relief road.

There is a lot of work to be done in County Kerry, but we, as the politicians from Kerry, are advocating, pursuing and pushing for that. I hear other people saying that they do not want more roads or cars or to facilitate that. I have no problem with that because the money that will be left, and more, will be gladly taken by those of us in County Kerry. If people do not want the money in Dublin, we will gladly use every euro we can drag, pull and push below the Red Cow roundabout and spend it wisely. The people of Kerry will be very grateful for it. Every inch of tar that goes down will be well traversed day and night, and to hell with the begrudgers.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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On behalf of the Minister for Transport, I thank all Deputies for their contributions to the debate on a new vision for transport in Galway and other areas. In the motion and contributions from individual Deputies during the debate, we can see the range of challenges and opportunities that exist and the progress which has been made to date in reorientating our transport system towards sustainable transport. We are all in agreement about wanting to provide a comprehensive public transport network that serves the needs of all members of society in Galway and beyond. As the House is aware, the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. Public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. Budget 2023 helps to support this objective and is a further positive development for public transport passengers across the country.

With regard to transport provision in areas other than Galway, the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan 2021-25 is a key component of the Government's ambitions in this area. It will significantly increase the number of bus routes and frequency of existing services across the country. Connecting Ireland proposes to expand the public transport network in rural areas and increase service levels. The NTA is planning for an overall increase of approximately 25% in rural bus services as part of the five-year Connecting Ireland rural plan. Hundreds of rural villages and areas will, for the first time, be served by a viable public transport link.

The NTA began rolling out improved rural bus services as part of Connecting Ireland in 2022 in areas such as Castlebar and Tullamore. Improved Local Link services will continue to be rolled out from 2022 to 2025 under Connecting Ireland. An allocation of €545 million will be made to public service obligation, PSO, routes and Local Link services in 2023. This will fund the delivery of enhanced rural transport services under the Connecting Ireland programme and new town services commencing with Carlow.

The Government also has ambitious plans for public transport infrastructure nationwide. The programme for Government commits to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. This is supported by the national development plan, NDP, which provides for €35 billion in Exchequer funds to maintain, enhance and improve transport infrastructure across the country over the next ten years.

Under Project Ireland 2040, spatial planning and capital investment are being linked in a meaningful way, while significant levels of investment are being put towards new public and sustainable transport initiatives. The substantial investment in transport in recent years and the ramping up of major projects, such as BusConnects in all five cities, including Galway; Connecting Ireland in rural areas; the Cork area commuter rail programme; DART+; and MetroLink, means the national public transport landscape will continue to transform for the better in the coming years.

The Government has made significant investment in recent years in 41 new intercity rail cars, which are expected to enter service in 2023. These new vehicles will enhance the capacity of the fleet and boost peak-time intercity capacity. The additional fleet may also allow for the redeployment of some existing fleet elsewhere on the network. In addition, the Minister for Transport is committed to nationwide rail service enhancements and provided funding of €6.5 million earlier this year under the infrastructure manager multiannual contract to upgrade the Nenagh rail line between Ballybrophy and Limerick. The replacement of old track on the line will substantially improve journey times and enhance safety of the line, allowing for the future operation of services at line speeds of up to 70 mph.

Regarding an independent study of light rail in Galway, I would like to reiterate that under Project Ireland 2040, spatial planning and capital investment are being linked to assist our climate targets through transport-orientated development. The proposal for a light rail transport system in Galway will be examined as part of the NTA's Galway metropolitan area transport strategy, which will facilitate an understanding of how the proposed system interacts with other public transport and land use in general. Studying light rail in isolation would remove these benefits and not provide an overall picture of the transport system needed to cater for medium- and long-term demand in Galway.

I would like to reiterate that the Government is fully committed to decarbonising the transport sector in line with our climate action plan and legally binding targets. The Minister for Transport will not reduce the level of ambition, including the Government's electric vehicle strategy. However, a perceived over-reliance on EVs to meet emissions reduction targets risks locking in further high levels of car dependency. In this context, a proposed reframing of the current 845,000 private EV target as an expected 30% share of the total car fleet by 2030 is not a reduction in the level of ambition, but rather seeks to better embed it in the wider sustainable mobility policy.

To help us to achieve our climate targets, it was decided that from 2019 no new diesel buses would be purchased for urban PSO bus fleets. In 2021, Galway became the first city in Ireland to have a fully hybrid PSO bus fleet. As part of the Government's transformative Pathfinder programme, which aims to accelerate sustainable transport projects that can be replicated across the country, the Athlone town bus fleet will shortly be fully transitioned to a zero emissions fleet.

Deputies will be aware that as part of BusConnects, the current fleet of buses will be converted to a low- and zero-emissions fleet, meeting rising demand and saving emissions in line with our climate action plan targets. Buses and shelters will be modernised, increasing accessibility and ensuring safe and enjoyable trips for passengers.

Public transport investment, including in bus and rail, can play a major role in decreasing CO2 emissions from the transport sector and provide workers, families and communities with an alternative and more sustainable mode of transport. As the Minister for Transport outlined at the start of the debate, the strategic rail review will examine the role of rail in supporting relevant policy objectives on the island of Ireland. This type of wide-ranging analysis of our island-wide rail system is crucial to our consideration of specific projects, and in that regard the House will be pleased to know the review will consider the potential scope for improved rail services along various existing and potential future corridors of the network. That scope will also include the potential afforded by disused and closed lines such as the western rail corridor. It will be one of the most significant reviews of the rail network on the island in many years and will provide a framework to develop an improved rail network in the years ahead.

I want to assure the House that the Minister for Transport fully recognises and emphasises the very important role public transport plays in all our lives and is aware of the concerns raised regarding the enhancement of public transport for travellers in Galway and other areas. The ambitious investment plan for the public transport sector over the coming years, such as BusConnects in Galway and Connecting Ireland in other areas, will go a long way toward achieving these goals and will help to improve people's quality of life and grow the economy in urban and rural areas through the provision of improved transport links.

I believe that with the work that has been done in recent years, the ongoing plans and future developments, we will achieve a better public transport system for the people of Ireland. I thank all Members for their inputs.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I fully support this Private Members' motion. I pay tribute to Deputy Connolly, who drafted and presented it. Galway needs to be the test case for carrying out a model of transport that is different and where alternatives to the car are modelled and looked at. It is interesting that the OECD report, Redesigning Ireland’s Transport for Net Zero: Towards Systems that Work for the People and Planet, states:

Ireland's national transport models project continued growth in car ownership based on income and demographic projections, and car occupancy is assumed to be constant in standard transport model runs. Alternative futures for car ownership and car occupancy are simply absent from standard transport modelling.

This is saying that there is a refusal on behalf of planners and the Government even to consider alternative models that might give a better outcome. At the very least, we cannot really say that they will lead to better outcomes because we have not looked at them. We are faced with a complete lack of vision and a failure to see anything other than a totally car-dependent culture. The report states that with three out of four citizens opting to travel by car on a daily basis, current mobility patterns in Ireland are incompatible with the country’s greenhouse gas emissions targets. This is a fairly damning statement about our ambition to be successful. It states that growing car use in Ireland is largely determined by car-dependent transport. It suggests that decarbonising the system via private vehicle improvements is unlikely to lead to substantially different patterns of behaviour, rapid emissions improvements and large well-being improvements. What all that is saying is that currently we are about tweaking car use and not really making the substantive change that is required. One of the key messages in the report is that policy change is not and should not be restricted to urban areas. We need to have change for all of Ireland and that means the north west, and Donegal in particular, as well.

During a recent Private Members' debate, we spoke about public transport requirements for rural areas. We should also be looking at the provision of rail for the north west and Donegal in order to move people away from ongoing car development. The West on Track and Into the West campaigns believe this can be done. The Into the West campaign looks at restoring the north-west rail corridor, which would bring a rail connection to Dungannon, Omagh, Strabane, Lifford and Letterkenny. This proposal makes sense because it could reduce travel times to Dublin and also reduce carbon emissions, which would be a win-win for all concerned. According to the West on Track campaign, a rail link for Ballyshannon, Donegal town and Ballybofey into Letterkenny could be provided as well. If this were done, a person heading to Dublin from Gweedore, Killybegs or Fanad could get a bus to Letterkenny or Donegal town and then a train to Dublin and be there just as quickly as they would if they were driving. It should not be unachievable. It can be done if we decide we want to do it. If the Department or the Government were using modelling systems that took it into account, maybe it would not be unaffordable, or shown to be unaffordable in order that it can be rubbished straight away.

The climate action plan says that in order to achieve our national climate objective, planning policy must work to reduce demand for travel by car, travel distances and journey times. It does not say that in order to achieve the climate action goals, we should not travel at all. We should travel smarter and, as I see it, that means by rail. Some 92% of members of the Citizens' Assembly that examined this issue recommended that the State should prioritise the expansion of public transport over new road infrastructure at a ratio of no less than 2:1 in order to facilitate broader availability and uptake of public transport options, with special attention to rural areas. This motion calls on the Government to "develop a transformative new vision for transport that will align with Ireland's transport emissions reduction targets, provide sustainable, accessible public transport and urgently reduce car dependency". How can this be achieved when, as the OECD said, "alternative futures for car ownership and car occupancy are simply absent from standard national transport modelling". To me, that says it all about our transport ambitions and, sadly, about the ambitions of our Government, apart maybe from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. What about the permanent government, which seems to make all the decisions about what is achievable? I believe that if we do not aim high, we can never achieve. By adopting and implementing this motion, this Government will be able to start thinking bigger, aiming higher and achieving more.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the staff in my office for their tremendous work on this motion, all my colleagues in the Dáil who have agreed with the substance of the motion, and indeed the Government as it has agreed with the substance of it. The kernel is in carrying out what the motion has asked the Government to do. I will hold the Government to account. There is a list of asks here with which the Minister has said he has no difficulty. I will look for a timescale for the implementation of those requests.

In regard to the motion, I would like to give some reassurance to Deputies from rural areas, particularly Deputy Michael Collins who referred to zero transport. I totally agree with him on that. It is difficult for people to embrace zero emissions when there is what he describes as "zero transport" on the ground.

As I said at the beginning, this OECD report is just one of many reports. The significant difference is that it clearly tells us that without transformative action by this Government, we cannot reach our emissions targets. It tells us in clear terms that transformative actions are still marginal. I will quote precisely from the report:

For a number of years Ireland has prioritized efforts and attention on policies that this analysis finds have a low potential to help the country transition away from car dependency and towards systems able to deliver sustainable accessibility.

As of 2022, transformative policies are still marginal and are implemented only on a small scale or as pilot projects. Transformative policies are still marginal. I say that in the context of the recent conference that concluded in Egypt, in the context of Ireland declaring a biodiversity emergency in 2019 and a climate emergency, and in the context of the Budget Statement delivered by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, last year - not this year - when he said that the climate is burning. The climate is burning and we have no choice but to take transformative action, but our policies in regard to transformative action are absolutely on the margins.

This is not a parochial motion. I am glad my colleagues have acknowledged that. It is about transformative action and focuses specifically on the OECD report. Indeed, the OECD did not choose Galway, which is significant, but chose Cork, Dublin, Sligo and Kildare. It also pointed out that transformative action was required not just in cities but in all rural and urban areas.

The Minister raised the question of what the two managers in Galway said when the decision was made to quash the order. Galway County Council, Galway City Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, three main bodies to which we look to do transformative change, said they were disappointed to learn from An Bord Pleanála that it would not be opposing on a "very limited ground" the judicial review proceedings taken by the Friends of the Environment challenging the board’s decision. I wish to pay tribute to the Friends of the Environment, which, along with its legal team of solicitors and barristers, succeeded in getting the order quashed. On what ground was it quashed? It was quashed because An Bord Pleanála failed to consider climate action and the urgency - the géarchéim - attached to it. The local authority management in Galway and the NTA, to which we now look to bring in transformative action, tell us it was a "very limited ground". The purpose of my motion is not to highlight the narrowness of the vision of the management, but to highlight the need for the Government to take a hands-on approach in leading out transformative action. We cannot blame motorists or people on the ground when the policies are embedded in the Government’s policy of car dependency.

There are key recommendations in the OECD report. I did not hear the Minister or the Minister of State refer to our determination to implement those key recommendations.

In regard to Galway city, there is no sense of urgency. We are talking about a feasibility study sometime in the future. The N6 project being quashed was a positive decision, in my opinion. We had a previous outer bypass that ended up in a cul-de-sac. There is no sense of urgency. We have no park and ride, and we are only now looking at that on the east side of the city.

There has been no attempt to move the school traffic off the ground, no attempt to look at joined-up thinking with a plan for the common good in regard to all of the public land we have, from the docks, which is publicly owned, to the station and the airport site of 150 acres that was mentioned, and Sandy Road. All of those are progressing with projects that are not determined by an overall master plan for the common good that links the usage of that for public housing with an integrated public transport system.