Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, who is also my local Teachta Dála. He is very welcome back to the Seanad Chamber, where I know he spent many happy years, probably longer than almost anyone else has ever spent here. It is good to see Senators doing well in Cabinet. There are quite a number of former Senators in the current Cabinet.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on tourism and transport. Ireland's tourism industry has seen its overseas visitor numbers grow consistently in recent years, with growth of 13% in 2015. Overseas visitors spent an estimated €6 billion in the State in 2015, a growth of 16% on the previous year. However, to remain competitive in the global tourism market, Ireland must ensure the quality of our services remains high, our prices remain reasonable and access to our ports and airports is maintained and improved. The savings created by the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the tourism sector must be passed on to the consumer. While the tourism experience offered in Ireland is unrivalled, we cannot afford to neglect the overall quality of tourism product in the country. The Department, tourism agencies and local authorities have a key role in devising tourism product and promotion strategies and policies. For all these bodies, we cannot get carried away with the success we have had in attracting tourists over recent years and we must not rest on our laurels.

The Gathering was very successful, but since then the Government has neglected tourism product development and domestic and overseas marketing. In budget 2017, the capital budget for tourism was cut by 4%. In the light of Brexit and sterling devaluation, to which the Minister referred, this is a shocking statistic. Brexit poses a real threat to further stable growth in the tourism industry, as the Minister outlined. We must be very cognisant not only of what Brexit has done for the psychology and the way people think of Britain but also of the very real and immediate drop in the value of sterling. It is imperative the Minister moves to publish immediately a new overarching tourism policy document to reassure the industry that a strategy is in place to deal with the potential consequences of Brexit.

The Government lacks a comprehensive vision and strategic plan for how to cope with future public transport demand not only in the core Dublin city area but also in the greater Dublin area as well as the rest of the country. The capital plan published in September is emblematic of the lack of ambition, vision and forward planning for public transport that the Government has been following. In the period 2007 to 2010, the Fianna Fáil Government set in motion two rail projects which would have radically transformed public transport in the greater Dublin area. Both these projects, DART underground and metro north, are vital to increasing productivity and economic output in the capital into the coming decades. Both were significantly progressed by the time the current Government came to power. DART underground already had a railway order and was ready to go, while planning for metro north was in its final stage. However, the Government chose to cancel both these projects in the capital plan. While metro north has been replaced with a scaled-back alternative, the Government's decision to abandon these projects has effectively set back public rail transit in the capital for decades.

It is vital that the DART underground project goes ahead. The project has economic benefits which reach far beyond the greater Dublin area. If completed, it will link up our southern and western rail lines with the DART, eastern and northern rail lines. It will more than double capacity on the Maynooth and Kildare route, which in turn will enable more frequent and better integrated rail services. The project would allow people to travel from Dublin Airport directly to Cork, Limerick and Galway. The previous Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, claimed he was unconvinced by the business case for the project. This was a disingenuous claim, especially when one considers the strong endorsement put forward by the National Transport Authority at the time. Analysts have long warned of the massive challenges facing transport in the greater Dublin area. The M50 has already reached peak capacity, as the Minister outlined, and commuters are already all too aware of the difficulties facing our transport network. It has been suggested the Government now realises the mistake it made and is considering advancing DART underground, which is positive. However, it is disappointing that Deputy Donohoe's previous statement will result in much higher costs for and a much greater delay to the project when and if it ever happens.

Last week, works began in Cherrywood, an area the Minister would know well, in south Dublin. I outlined this yesterday on the Order of Business. It is fantastic to see the groundbreaking ceremony happen. This development will potentially lead to 8,000 houses, with an increase in the population of between 20,000 and 25,000 projected. As the Minister knows, many of the Luas green line stations in his constituency - my constituency too - are effectively at capacity for a significant part of the day. One hears of people in Dundrum going up the line to Kilmacud to cross over the tracks to get back in because one cannot get on at Dundrum. This is before 8,000 homes and 20,000 people are added to Cherrywood. What will we do about the Luas green line? I do not know how it might be handled. I am not a transport engineer. I do not know whether it is possible to lengthen the carriages - probably not - or whether the frequency of trains can be further increased, but the line is very busy all day before the addition of another 20,000 people. Ideally, Cherrywood could be a self-sustaining community in which many of the facilities and services are on site. However, it is unrealistic to believe that all 8,000 homes and the entirety of the population living there will not need a good quality, efficient transport service with adequate capacity.

The competitiveness and attractiveness of Dublin and its surrounding counties as a destination for living, visiting and doing business will be seriously undermined unless actions are taken to increase the capacity and usability of public transport to better manage traffic during peak periods and reduce private car share. The population of the greater Dublin area is expected to grow by 22% by 2030 and by 26% in the mid-east region, including Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. Increasing investment in bus services as well as DART underground, metro north and Luas is vital.

I have a few other small points. The Minister referred to road safety. What he is doing in this field is commendable but, and this is as much a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality as it is for him, enforcement and the Garda traffic corps are noticeably absent on the roads. That is the only way of putting it. Not enough people are worried about being caught. People are taking chances. The Minister's predecessor both in Dublin South and in the Department, Seamus Brennan, introduced a penalty points system. There was great resistance to it by officials initially, but it had a very positive effect in terms of lives saved. Enforcement is the key. We in the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach dealt with the cost of motor insurance. The cost of motor insurance is related to the number of claims, and the claims are related to the number of accidents.

It is disappointing that whereas the Minister's statement referred to sustainable modes of transport, nowhere was cycling mentioned in his entire speech.In Dublin especially we need to provide proper cycling facilities. This means not only better surfaces - they are often not joined up – but we need to ensure that employees have safe places to lock their bikes as well as decent changing facilities in buildings.

The Minister referenced demand management. That expression is usually code for road pricing and I am concerned. Will the Minister outline what he means by that and whether he is referring to demand management on the M50 and further tolls?

There was a proposal approximately ten years ago called the blue line. It related to a rapid bus transit project along the eastern bypass corridor through much of Dublin and Rathdown. The idea was to connect the Luas and DART with UCD and RTE. At this stage, the road reservation is there and the proposal for the eastern bypass will not start before 2035 and may never progress. It would be good to use that corridor as a way of delivering high-quality public transport along a route that has many trip generators, in particular UCD, Dundrum Town Centre and Sandyford business district. It could connect the DART and Luas with all other major trip generators on that line. I thank the Minister for his time and I look forward to his response.