Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising what is a very important issue for the county of Kildare and the people in the town of Naas, but it also allows me to outline some of the work we are doing on these pathfinder projects and why they have been introduced. As the Senator said, 35 projects have been agreed with a wide application. We went to every county council and asked them to come forward with proposals. We selected what we thought were the best projects from them and those that could be shown would be delivered by the end of 2025. Pathfinder is designed to show we can deliver quickly because our transport emissions continue to rise. The gridlock that a booming economy brings continues to be one of the biggest effects on people's quality of life, and we need to switch to a more sustainable active travel public transport alternative. The whole variety of pathfinder projects was designed, therefore, to give council throughout the country the opportunity to show how we could do this in order that we could then replicate this in other towns. If we can get this really attractive project in Naas stopping all the through traffic going through the centre of town, there are ready alternatives where we can divert such traffic, introduce really good pedestrian areas, connect up the other active travel and public transport initiatives we are doing in the town, and then at the core, really develop the centre of the town as a really attractive public place to visit, shop and socialise in, as well as to get around using sustainable modes. This is an important project.

Two projects had similar characteristics and involved real town revitalisation traffic management exercises in Clonmel and Naas. It was agreed internally on both that in the absence of funding from any other budget, we would agree to make sure funding would be available from the climate action fund to provide for these projects such were their importance. I met with the county manager and the director of services last year because I had heard they had concerns about whether this was a real prospect and I reassured them it absolutely was. However, the most urgent issue is speed because there is an issue if we cannot deliver this project by the end of the 2025 and if the council is not on track to deliver this project by the end of that year. I made it clear right through the pathfinder project that if councils were not keen and were not developing projects in a timely manner, we would transfer the money to other projects. We have a substitute list of other projects that other councils are very keen to progress in this way. I am concerned, and I hope my concerns are not borne out to be true, that Kildare County Council seems to be hesitant, as the Senator said in his introduction.They need to have the Part 8 process concluded to introduce these traffic management measures by, at the latest, very early next year. To do that, there are key timelines and markers. I will be keeping a close eye on it. As I said to Kildare County Council and to every other council, if they are not able to deliver in the timeframe, we will reallocate the funding elsewhere and another town will be able to get the benefit of showing what is possible in moving to this more sustainable future. I hope that does not prove to be the case. I hope the local authority makes it clear that it is looking to get the approval. It would obviously be up to the councillors. All these decisions are bottom-up decisions. It will be up to Kildare County Council to decide whether it wants to proceed with the project. If they do not, we will reallocate the funding quickly. If they do, I will be more happy than anyone else and will look forward to the day when we are there in a revitalised, completely reformed and improved Naas town centre through this traffic management measure. I hope we can deliver that before 2025, as committed to.