Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House, with which he is very familiar, having spent a long time in the Seanad before he was elected to the Dáil. I welcome him back.

I will make a number of points particularly on the transport matter. I came in this morning by bicycle. I was very glad I was cycling because there was a tailback through the heart of the Minister's constituency where I live, from Goatstown pretty much the whole way to Leinster House. I appreciate that the Luas was not operating but it shows how popular the Luas is and how dependent many people are on it. It was not raining at the time but the impending bad weather probably had more people in their cars. We need to look at it seriously. I know the Minister is looking at it through BusConnects and so on. I thank the Minister for the mention I got in the Lower House yesterday. I do not think I have been mentioned before in the Lower House. I thank the Minister for mentioning it.

BusConnects has much merit. There are very many good things in it such as the connectivity, the 90-minute journey fares and interconnectivity between Luas, DART and bus. There is much good in it. There are services that currently exist that seem to be very popular and seem to be altered in a certain way. I completely accept it is a draft proposal but I hope Mr. Walker and his team will look at all of the consultation - I understand there will be a lot of consultation done and observations put in - and will try to keep the best of what is there while adding to it. The concept of the spines is very good for those people lucky enough to live on spines. The 46A is a very popular route in my former council area in Stillorgan. There is much merit in BusConnects but I think the process and the people involved in it need to take on board people's concerns.

I cycled in this morning. It was fast and only took 19 minutes but there were cars the entire way in. That is not acceptable. We need to be looking at the amount of park-and-ride facilities for people who are travelling long distances who do not have great public transport. Many people come up from Wicklow, perhaps not too far from the Minister. They come in on the M50 down through Goatstown and Clonskeagh and into Ranelagh. If they had a better option and there were park-and-ride facilities further out, I do not doubt they would use them. We need to consider those people and give them options and alternatives to avoid having to bring their cars close to the city centre.

I apologise I was not here for the Minister's speech - I had another commitment elsewhere - but I have read it. I do not know what other speakers mentioned. Senator McDowell may have mentioned the metro and the concerns around it. The metro is going as far as Sandyford at the very same time that we are building a brand new town in Cherrywood. I think it is proposed there will be about 12,500 housing units for almost 30,000 people yet we are going to have the old service being provided from Brides Glen inward as far as Sandyford, which will then become a metro, which will then become either a Luas or an underground metro somewhere in the area where Senator McDowell lives. We need to future-proof whatever is going on in terms of Cherrywood because it is a very significant residential development on almost 400 acres of land. It is probably the last developable bit of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown left of such size.If we are to do work on the line, we need to do it there where there are relatively very few people. The work could probably be done there far more quickly and easily than in a city centre location.

On Brexit, Dublin Port is certainly making provision. As Senator Buttimer said and as I have said, there is nothing good about Brexit. It will be difficult but we need to future-proof our ports in this regard. We need to examine road safety. I did not hear the figures yesterday but I hope European Day Without A Road Death was a success in Ireland, despite the weather. I encourage the Minister to consider road safety and speeding although it is technically not his brief. When I drive at the speed limit on the M50, motorists fly past. The level of enforcement on some of our major roads is not what it could be.

With regard to airports, I must state, to be fair to Senator Byrne, that I would prefer if there were more people flying out of Shannon. Equally, there should be more travelling from Cork. For all the abuse the former Deputy Noel Dempsey got ten or 11 years ago over white elephants, terminal 2 of Dublin Airport is now so full that Aer Lingus airplanes are going back to use terminal 1. It has been a phenomenal success. I congratulate Aer Lingus and the DAA on what they are doing but we need to keep an eye on future-proofing all our investments.

It is not all negative. I am not trying to be negative at all. I commend the work being done. It is very positive. I refer to initiatives such as the Leap card. It is amazing how fantastic the Luas was when it was opened by Séamus Brennan only 14 years ago at the Sandyford depot, near where I live. Much positive work is being done but we need to future-proof for the increase in population. As much as we can, we need to get people out of their cars, not for the sake of it but because they will have faster journey times and better experiences. There is nothing worse than sitting in a car and not moving at all for a time. I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Minister.