Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It has been a very good debate. It has lacked the cut and thrust one often sees in the House but it has been very constructive. I will try to address most of the questions that came through in the short time available to me. I detected three trends, namely, congestion, climate change and cycling. That was very welcome because one often hears a lot about other issues but these are the progressive and sensitive issues it is right to raise in this House. I welcome also the fact that virtually every speaker mentioned those matters in one context or another. Virtually everything that was raised here could be categorised as an issue which may not be easy to address but which should nevertheless be tackled.

I will say something on cycling overall first and then address the individual matters. Let there be no doubt here. The Government has bought into the cycling story. It would be utterly wrong for anyone to paint us as anti-cycling or to have fallen back in respect of it. A lot of disinformation comes out about cycling. I do not blame the cycling lobby groups, which have a lot to complain about. However, there is a lot of disinformation and a lack of appreciation about what we have done and what we are doing and how well it fits in with the climate change story. Let me be honest and straightforward and admit that we are behind on climate change. Of course, we are. We do not have a proud record on climate change, but we are going to improve. Transport has its contribution to make. While there is sometimes misleading information about that, we have a major contribution to make to improve the climate change journey we have to take. Cycling is a major part of that. I will list for the benefit of everyone who raised the cycling story a fact of which I hope most people are aware. We have announced a capital investment programme for cycling and walking of €110 million over four years from 2018 to 2021 with a further €135 million to be provided over the next four years for traffic management, bus priority and other smarter travel projects in our cities. This is a substantial step up in investment, which will impact significantly on the numbers cycling. It will continue to yield benefits in the easing of congestion, which is where Senator Mark Daly started, and have a transformative effect in Dublin and regional cities.

I am acutely aware of the importance of safety for cyclists and am very conscious of the increase in cycling fatalities, in particular over the last couple of years. There has been a small improvement, but no improvement is ever enough. The Department has been working closely with the NTA and Dublin City Council to develop additional safety measures. In 2019, funding under the sustainable urban transport and cycling walking programmes will increase by approximately 30% to €48 million. That increase excludes additional moneys made available under the greenways strategy and the national development plan. We are allocating €2.4 billion to the development of BusConnects across all major cities and that will deliver an integrated cycling network in each. Under the greenways strategy, a €53 million programme from 2019 to 2021 will fund the delivery of strategically important greenways across the country. The NTA will establish a new cycling delivery office to optimise the delivery of new cycling infrastructure. I note in response to the point Senator Higgins just made, the office will obviously have dedicated people and I am hopeful one will be a cycling officer. I could go on with the detail but I wish simply to say that the Government is committed to this. I think we are being recognised. As Senator Grace O'Sullivan noted, we are sponsoring Velo-city, which is the world's largest cycling conference. It will take place in Dublin this year from 25 to 28 June.I am looking forward to that but I suspect that is a recognition of the fact that we are making strides here. We have more to do but let us be straight. I will happily admit that we are falling back on climate change and that we have a lot to do. Let us also get a response from people from time to time to say that we have moved on cycling. We recognise this is part of climate change and getting people out of their cars. We are doing something and we have made commitments in terms of funding and we are spending money and will continue doing this.

I will not address climate change in a general way but if I have time, I will try to address some of the specific questions which I was asked. Senator Mark Daly spoke of the need to improve rail. We are increasing funding across the rail network and this will support more services and allow more people to choose public transport which is worth recognising. On the issue for driver licence tests, and I thank Senator Daly who was here for the whole debate, which I appreciate enormously, there is a lack of recognition of what we have done. The Senator mentioned 29 weeks. I do not believe that there are any 29 week waiting times left. From memory, the average wait for driver tests is approximately 11 weeks. It has come down considerably and it is likely to come down further. There are many wild figures going around and the Senator may be correct in that there may be one extreme case of 29 weeks but the average is around 11 weeks. It has improved a great deal. I like the Senator's idea of more remote working. It is not quite a transport issue but is one from which transport would benefit.

Senator McDowell spoke about metro and asked whether other proposals had been ruled out forever. No, they have not been. We have a statutory framework in relation to transport planning in the greater Dublin area, GDA, which must be respected and of which the Senator would be well aware, and that is the NTA's transport strategy for 2016 to 2035. That strategy has to be reviewed every six years. The next review must be completed by 2021. Any new projects which anybody has can be put forward as part of the review and, obviously, nothing is excluded.

The Taoiseach referred explicitly to other options, and the NTA must consider those and any other sensible options. It is a statutory process but it is a very sensible one. It allows for reviews every six years which could include ideas on the Luas or the metro, which had not been included in the original strategy because it is a very long-term one.