Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The issue of tolls, while affecting local authorities, requires a national strategy. An example of a bad hostage to fortune that was given, for example, is the idea that the State now compensates for whenever there are not vehicles on roads as well as when there are. There is a concern. It was an example of poor policy.

Similarly, in terms of poor policy, the idea of the diesel rebate scheme needs to be re-examined. It is extraordinary that we would not be just giving an exemption. Ideally, we should be pressing for fuel efficiency as part of these European directives. We should be asking for them to move forward. Clearly, the road haulage industry is an effective lobbyist but the fact is we cannot afford the lives lost to this industry by poor practice. We should be looking for more fuel efficiency in the vehicles but, nonetheless, to incentivise and refund the purchase of unclean fuels is an extraordinarily regressive step. That is one that we need to revise.

I accept we will be under pressure with Brexit. I do not believe that companies will stop delivering goods to Ireland if they have to pay the same price for diesel as anybody else. I think that they will continue in that regard.

I look forward to engaging with the Minister of State. I appreciate the Minister of State's engagement in relation to Slane. I understand the situation. I note that sometimes extra roads are added, as when an extra road was added through the centre of Kilkenny, and doing so does not reduce the vehicle traffic. In that case, what we saw was more vehicle traffic. We suddenly had two roads which had the same number of vehicles. There is a concern, not specifically in terms of Slane, that the research internationally has shown that providing more roads does not automatically reduce traffic. What it tends to do is incentivise and send the signal that roads are the main mechanisms. In fact, freight haulage, which is something which Ireland has neglected and which is another issue I raised in the past with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, is somewhere that we will need to look in terms of long-term sustainability as we depend increasingly on the ports and on land travel and that connection between rail and port down the line.