Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Transport is now responsible for about 20% of Ireland's greenhouse gases. Recent figures show that transport emissions increased by 3.79% in 2016, bringing the total rise over the last four years to 13%. This is particularly shocking given that the technologies needed to decarbonise our transport sector already exist. The Government has failed to meet our targets for getting more electric vehicles onto our roads. We have only 2,000 electric vehicles on the road, and sales continue to represent 0.5% of our new sales. There must be investment in our public transport system as it does not give commuters a choice.Traffic congestion is bringing our cities to a standstill and having a negative impact on people's mental and physical health. Strong public transport requires long-term thinking and planning. Fianna Fáil supports the establishment of a national infrastructure commission, which will plan over a 25-year period to help build a stronger, greener public transport infrastructure. There is no evidence of this type of planning from the current Government, which is not delivering on key infrastructure projects such as the DART. This department needs to take lead on a greener transport sector. When Dublin Bus requested funding to trial electric buses in May of last year, it was refused.

Ireland needs to take a lng-term view on infrastructure projects and that is what the country needs over the next century. This is particularly important in light of the serious challenges of climate change and the need to upgrade infrastructure to cope with growing demand. This requires long-term planning and investment. A new national infrastructure commission tasked with planning ahead over a 25-year period beyond the limited five-year cycle of the current capital plan would secure our long-term requirements. We would set up an independent national infrastructure commission by reforming Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and drawing from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the National Transport Authority, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and local authorities to set out a new framework for the development of transport in Ireland over the coming years.

The commission will be tasked with overseeing long-term plans for a series of targets including achieving 4% GDP infrastructure investment, decarbonising Ireland, creating a strong transport network that balances regional development, which is crucial, making Ireland an IT nation with telecommunications and a secured, balanced energy mix.

Ireland's target under the EU renewable energy supply directive is to ensure that 10% of its transport energy comes from renewable sources by 2020. This target allows the inclusion of transport energy supplied from liquid biofuels. Fianna Fáil has proposed a number of simple measures to switch to electric cars, including by making ESB fast-charge charging points free to access for all users, extending grants for electric vehicle, EV, purchases to 2020 and removing motor tax on all electric cars for five years. In general, there is a very low awareness among the public about the benefits of electric cars, especially the fuel economy. We need to undertake an information campaign to inform customers of EV benefits. Lack of awareness is crucial in this regard as people simply are not aware of the benefits of electric vehicles. We have discussed climate change today. We can all see massive climate change. We must put in place good road infrastructure and must make sure the proper amount of funding is going into this, as it all comes down to funding.