Results 16,481-16,500 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: TII is examining rail and road options. There are a variety of options. There is likely to be a further paring down of options within the next quarter. TII will outline some further options and analysis later this year. The project is at a relatively early stage. On rail investment in Limerick, some of the thinking behind NIFTI comes into this. It outlines where we should optimise the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is absolutely right about the importance of Tipperary town getting relief from the traffic running through Main Street. It is plagued by very heavy levels of freight traffic. As the Deputy knows, traffic from large industrial areas in Shannon and Galway heading towards Rosslare or the Port of Waterford all run through the likes of Tipperary town. That leads to huge problems,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The first coach service in this country was run by Bianconi from Clonmel to Limerick, I understand. He took a strange route, through the caravanserai in Tipperary via Tipperary town en route to Limerick. No one knows why he took that route; he should have gone via Bansha. My family was involved in looking after the horses at the first stopping post, so my family history includes the Cahir...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Deputy Matthews is right; we have to start taking climate change far more seriously. The scale of our ambition and the level of change planned are beyond compare. The existing climate action plan includes a very ambitious switch towards electric vehicles and the use of biofuels including biodiesel. Every country in Europe is now doing this but we are faced with a challenge to go much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Exactly, Shannon is another example. This area is evolving but I understand new electric battery options are coming into view. Irish Rail will have to come back to us on the technical aspects but I believe that is where we are going to go, towards electrification and compact development built around good quality public transport systems. We are doing a rail review this year. Mr. Doocey,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: It is not like a DART line to Kilgarvan. The infrastructure is already there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, and we should build housing around it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Before answering the Senator's questions, I will go back to his Bianconi connections. Bianconi was an incredible man. He was an Italian and a friend of Daniel O'Connell. He hauled picture frames around the country and got fed up with seeing the aristocracy going by in their carriages so he decided to set up his own. He ran the Ryanair of his day and had real class. His carriages ended up...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: With regard to Galway, I have regularly met the various people who rightly advocate for light rail in Galway. They make a very good case. We have an immediate priority. We must build high-quality bus corridor routes from the likes of Barna to Taylor's Hill, the hospital and the university, through the town, through Eyre Square and out towards Parkmore. As I understand it, that is one of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I hope that it will be my Leap card and not the pensioner's free travel card that I will be able to use on the day we open up the service from Mallow to Midleton, not just Cork. That is what is in the Cork metropolitan area strategy, which we are seeking to advance. It is a perfect project that will use existing infrastructure. It will require work at Kent Station so that we can run right...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: It is an issue for the NTA, which has a statutory function in this regard, but I will contact it and make the case. I hope I will be able to use my Leap card without having to wait for my pensioner's bus pass.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The problem is it takes so long to build infrastructure in our country.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Unfortunately, I am at that age where, if we followed the normal process, I would not be using my Leap card. That is a problem. It takes us ten years to do anything. We cannot afford to wait ten years for Cork to move to a sustainable housing approach. We need to build the housing now and put public transport in at the same time. The real challenge-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The interconnector is absolutely critical not just nationally but locally. Where we have interconnection with electricity connection supplies, we will have industry. Little Island, the pharmaceutical industries in Cork harbour and other new industries that come in will be attracted to where that strong point in the grid is. It is critical for Cork's industrial development and employment....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: We ran it through the village of Rush. It was very difficult and contentious but EirGrid did it well in the end and satisfied the local community that it can be done in a very sensitive way that is attentive to their needs. I am sure it will do that again. It is a critical piece of infrastructure for the economy of Cork and the country.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: As I said earlier, the critical thing about the M20 is making sure that places like Buttevant, Charleville and Mallow are the priority. That is our key focus.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Senator Craughwell mentioned my knowledge of the country. I was fortunate to spend 15 years driving around the country bringing people on holidays and that gave me knowledge of many different areas, including Cork city, which I know well. The Senator is right that the centre of the city is key. Cork has been hollowed out, like so many Irish cities, but it is probably the worst of them....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I will address that last issue first because it is an example of what I have been talking about in terms of what we will do with our road network and what we will invest in. On the example of the N25, there may have been an original plan to look at the whole section from Youghal to Midleton as a dual carriageway all of the way and so on. The key and critical bottlenecks and pinch points are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I commit to doing that. I am in regular contact with EirGrid and I will make sure it listens to the Deputy and his colleagues on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Consultation on the National Development Plan (Resumed): Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and for Transport (9 Mar 2021)

Eamon Ryan: It does. The legislation will have quite a number of amendments on Committee Stage, including on scramblers.