Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on his excellent speech. There is no doubt there has been a tremendous improvement. With the opening of the new motorway from Dublin to Belfast, it now takes approximately an hour and 40 minutes to get to Belfast. It takes less than three hours to drive from Dublin to Cork. It is obvious to everyone how the quality of life has improved with the new roads and dual carriageways. It is a pleasure to get from A to B so quickly.

My husband and I spent almost a month travelling in our car across France, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and Germany. It was an amazing experience due to the efficiency of the road network through central and eastern Europe. One could appreciate the different cultures. It was absolutely beautiful. However, I take this opportunity to put it on the record that, in my experience, Senator Barrett from Trinity College is the most experienced person with regard to the issue of transportation in Ireland. I have been listening to his observations on transport in the past year and he, more than anyone else, knows what he is talking about.

The tragedy about Ireland is that it took 40 years to build a bypass around Newbridge, County Kildare. At a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Wall from Kildare spoke about how the quality of life and the businesses of towns in Kildare that have been bypassed have improved, rather than the opposite. As people thought there would be a negative impact on the towns that were bypassed, it took 40 years to bypass Newbridge. Why do we do everything so slowly? It took many years to allow competition in the transport sector so people could get a direct bus to Dublin Airport. It is amazing. Why did it take so long to allow direct bus competition with CIE? That is the tragedy.

Senator Barrett said it is healthy and good for young and older people to travel by bicycle. The Minister said that 400,000 people travel 4 km or less to work, school or college every day by car. These distances are very amenable to cycling or even walking. I cycled one day from Dundrum to Leinster House and I found it very intimidating where there was no clear cycle path. To be honest, I felt my life was in danger when cycling down Leeson Street and turning on to St. Stephen's Green. Senator Barrett wondered why we did not impose very low speed limits in certain areas in order that cyclists would be safer on the roads. It is a simple thing to do, and no one would object. Why can we not make the decision to lower the speed limit and do it? Dublin is not like other European cities which really cater for cycling. We do not do so at all. There is a challenge in that regard for the Minister of State from a health and safety point of view and in terms of people getting healthier. Obviously, getting out of our cars is the right thing to do, but we should be more energetic in improving the situation. The narrowness of our roads does not allow us to build dedicated lanes, as there are in other countries.

I wish the Minister of State well. There is a great opportunity before him to make improvements quickly, rather than waiting 20 or even 40 years to make things happen.