Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senator Dolan. It is great to see the Minister of State here. I support the motion. Since I was elected as a councillor, there have been many public consultations, which is fantastic. There was one for BusConnects. There have been two for DART+ West although they have been conducted during the pandemic. There have been two consultations on the Royal Canal urban greenway. One of my first motions as a councillor was about safe routes to school before it became a project. Obviously, the community is very much behind these. While there can be disagreement over aspects of the routes, in general people are very much invested in public transport for Dublin West, but we want to see it delivered.

I wish to recap some of the projects. Regarding DART+ West, electrifying the rail line is essential to our area. Irish Rail needs to be better at how it engages with communities. Many of the delays come from those consultations not being held in the way that they should be. They were not conducted well during the Covid pandemic. We had two and hopefully we will have a third, but we probably would not have needed a third for Ashtown if they had been conducted well in the first place.

There is a mandate to close the level crossings in communities. There are many reasonable questions about whether that needs to happen. It is possible to automate the gates and invest in signalling to do that. It has been signalled to us that that will not just be on DART+ West, but it will be on the DART in other areas also. It is an issue that affects me, but it will affect many other people. Managing that is sensitive and needs to be done properly.

On BusConnects, there are 150 trees on the Navan Road that could be removed. Those in the community still do not know if that will go ahead. I call for clarity on that. I know the Minister of State cannot give clarity today, but those in the area need to know that.

Regarding active travel, many projects are being discussed, but only one in Dublin 15 has been delivered. While we have the Royal Canal greenway, Fingal County Council is holding back on aspects of that greenway which could proceed where there are not issues of contention. It could start on other parts of it but it is choosing not to. Public transport is very important to Dublin West, but we need more delivery.