Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Acting Chairman mentioned that the Minister of State was a Member of this House before. As I am a new Member, our paths did not cross. These are most exciting developments and I wish the Minister of State well. The energy in his script is impressive and pleasant to see.

I wonder what we can do about schools. AA Roadwatch tells us that traffic is lighter when schools are on holidays and the roads are clogged up when they return. How can we get more children to cycle and walk to school? The difficulty pertains to parents' fears about safety.

Should we have even lower speed limits in the vicinity of schools? Perhaps cars and lorries could be excluded from the zones outside schools for the half hour or so when the children are going to school in the morning. It would be more difficult to achieve this in the afternoon because the pattern for returning home is more varied.

I agree with the Minister of State on the success of the Dublin Bus scheme. We have done some research on it and noted it is one of the most successful.

There are concerns about safety, including people not wearing helmets. However, I gather the literature on this is not conclusive. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, to the House.

Consider the promotion of cycling and the Westport?Newport development. Anywhere there is an old railway line, as between Sligo and Claremorris and between Tralee and Fenit in north Kerry, should be considered. Such developments, modelled on that between Westport and Achill Sound, can be highly successful and ought to be encouraged. The success of the Dublin bike scheme confirms that.

Wherever we have bus lanes or quality bus corridors, we should open up the market. The corridors comprise a useful facility. Many motorists wonder why nothing is happening on the inside lane when there is spare capacity. If Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann do not use the lanes fully, why not allow somebody else to use them?

Smarter travel has an economic dimension. When there was a monopoly, the bus from Dublin to Galway ran once per day. Now that there are three competing firms, there are up to 45 services per day. Young people, in particular, enjoy this form of travel. As competition in the bus market, as in air transport, has reduced fare prices, we can develop the bus service far more as an alternative to the car. In the past, the Department responsible for transport was very conservative. It keeps out new entrants. New entrants are the lifeblood of every sector in the economy.

The Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, is from Donegal and knows the immense contribution that small, independent bus companies make to the travel service between Donegal and the National University of Ireland, Galway, and between Donegal and Dublin. I have in mind former Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon's view on the Swords Express bus case that the Department was protective of Dublin Bus and that it doubly discriminated against new entrants. New entrants, or the start-ups about which the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, speaks, are needed in transport. I am very impressed by the success of the open market for bus services between Dublin and Galway. It is a good incentive not to take the car.

On the massive use of cars for short journeys of 4 km or less, we must consider walking and cycling. The 4 km target is very important.

One of the schemes that seems to have incurred high costs and which has been slow to develop is the building of a cycleway the entire way from Howth to Dún Laoghaire. I heard a really high cost mentioned, such as ¤45 million. Much of the infrastructure is in place in areas such as Clontarf. It would be interesting to see how we can speed up the process. It seems to be a very good project and it was not mentioned in the Minister of State's speech. The cycleway would open up views of Dublin Bay, which would be very attractive and promote cycling by separating cyclists from trucks and lorries. It would promote cycling as a very attractive alternative.

One of the successes of the Dublin Port tunnel was its removal of trucks from the city. It has certainly made cycling in the city very much safer, which is to be commended. There were some terrible accidents when trucks turned left and could not see the cyclists on the inside. The successful safety improvement is a commendable result of public policy.

We can say, with a slight caveat, that there are buses up and down the country that could be used more if we were not so strict in regulating market access. Every other initiative mentioned in the Minister of State's speech is commendable, going in the right direction and good for the environment. Initiatives are promoting walking and cycling, resulting in health and other benefits, as mentioned by the Minister of State. The scheme in question is well worth progressing. I assure the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Dinny McGinley, that I will be supporting it from these benches.