Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on his new position. There are a lot of moving parts to it, literally. I wish him the best of luck in that.

I do not believe the Minister mentioned the extension of light rail down to the Irish Glass Bottle site. Obviously, he knows about the Irish Glass Bottle site extensively. I know his predecessor put back the Luas, the light rail, down to the Irish Glass Bottle site by over ten years, which will have a huge impact on the entire development. The development will be finished and occupied by then, with 7,000 to 10,000 residents living there. It is a major concern to the existing community and also for the new people moving in that there is no light rail and that the previous Minister extended the timeline for that. It would be very helpful to let residents know and to shorten the timeline for the development of the light rail down to the Irish Glass Bottle site. It will be a fantastic site. We already know there will not be car parking spaces and therefore there needs to be public transport. I cannot understand why that decision was taken to push out the delivery of light rail down to the Irish Glass Bottle site.

Senator Boyhan spoke about his concern about public safety on the DART and the Luas. We all know how menacing it feels to be on the Luas or DART, particularly for older people. Many parents do not want their children to go on the Luas or DART at any time of day.Older people are afraid to travel out and visit their friends along that route because of the concerns they have. There has to be teeth to any measures taken to improve security. I wish the Minister the best of luck in his new role.