Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted with the opportunity to speak on this important issue. My colleagues in the Dáil introduced amendments and I am hopeful that the Minister will accept amendments in the Seanad as well on some of the issues raised. As he outlined, this is important legislation that goes much further than ever before, but there is always room for improvement.

I will speak first about BusConnects, which I know the Minister is very passionate about. We have an exciting opportunity in Galway to have BusConnects and to have a cross-city link. It is appropriate for these kinds of projects, in particular for public transport and active transport, that we allow An Bord Pleanála greater ability to get them through more quickly. While the plan in Galway is a good one and we are behind it, the Green Party in Galway will make a submission on it because we think the cycling part could happen at the same time, which it needs to. I urge people to have their say on that as well in Galway.

I wish to deal with CPO in particular, which is what the legislation provides for in respect of BusConnects. It is very interesting that no sooner is the ink dried on a decision from An Bord Pleanála than the council is out CPOing anything it can when it is a road, but we never see that when it comes to a greenway or any form of public or active transport. If we can shift that focus, we could get into gear much faster. The Galway ring road project has gone for appeal and yet the land is being CPOed. That is a real concern for me, yet we have been waiting for the Connemara greenway and there is never any talk of CPOs for that.

Regarding cargo bikes and e-bikes in particular, when I had one child I used to cycle with my child on the back but when I had two children, I found the cargo bike too heavy for my small stature to push up a steep hill. It is very important for women and families in particular - Senator Boylan has raised this as well - to get to the next stage in life and when a person has children, e-bikes are very important, in particular electric cargo bikes. I would love to see the Minister bring back something on that to support people with the cost of e-cargo bikes and e-bikes in general.

I also wish to raise an issue I raise all of the time a meetings of t the joint policing committee in Galway, which is motorists driving through red traffic lights. I asked for this to be added to the report of the joint policing committee so that there would be a record of how many times cars drove through lights. This year so far, there have been 52 incidents and there were 52 last year. As I understand it, the Garda need to see it happen. For that reason, it is very important that we are creative about reporting. I know a pilot project was run previously. The Bill goes some way towards allowing self-reporting. We must also assure people about GDPR, as we did for the circular economy Bill, that data will only be used for the purposes required if there is video evidence. The recorded number of 52 incidents is not representative of the number of people who break traffic lights. I would nearly see that number in one day. It is a big concern for many of my constituents who get in touch with me.

We have had some discussion on electric vehicles at the climate committee. I am a little concerned about ZEVI, which some of my colleagues raised previously with the Minister. We need to see that we are moving in the right direction. Modal shift is the right direction. I will read what was said in yesterday's OECD review that we called for under the climate action plan. The report stated that current mobility patterns in Ireland showing high and growing car use are incompatible with the country's ambitious greenhouse gas emissions target. An increase in car use is not the right direction, regardless of the type of car it is. I am very supportive of electric vehicles because they have a place, but we also cannot use the arms of the State purely for electric vehicles. That is why I believe other types of transport, apart from cars, must be brought in to ZEVI. I can see my time is up. I will speak further on Committee Stage.