Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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58. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the steps he will take to reduce emissions from the transport sector and to meet the official Government targets for 2020 set out in Smarter Travel in view of the EPA's projection that transport emissions will increase by 16% by 2020 to a share of 29% of total emissions and the fact that none of the targets set for 2020 by the Government's Smarter Travel - A Sustainable Transport Future Transport Policy for Ireland 2009-2020 is going to be met. [38832/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The Smarter Travel policy document set out the building blocks for a low carbon transport sector through the achievement of certain key goals, namely to reduce overall travel demand, maximise the efficiency of the transport network, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, reduce transport emissions and improve accessibility to transport. As the Deputy may be aware, the targets set out in Smarter Travel were predicated on investment of €4.5 billion over the lifetime of the policy, which did not materialise due to the financial crisis which took hold in parallel with the publication of the policy in 2009.

Nevertheless, these goals remain the cornerstone of transport policy and are reflected in a number of policies being developed by my Department including the National Policy Framework on Alternative Fuels Infrastructure for Transport, which is due to be published in the coming weeks, following our recent public consultation on the draft Framework.

Our current investment programme continues to support a more efficient bus fleet and the commissioning of Luas Cross-City and the Phoenix Park Tunnel will contribute to attracting people out of their cars and onto public transport. We are also seeing year on year growth in the numbers cycling, particularly in Dublin. The mid-term review of the Capital Investment Plan in 2017 will afford an opportunity to seek additional funding for sustainable and public transport measures.

In order for Ireland to effectively and equitably contribute to the EU emissions reduction commitments, an ambitious low-carbon development strategy, the National Mitigation Plan, is currently being developed. In the Plan, specific focus is being placed on the sectorial areas of electricity generation, the built environment, agriculture and transport. While responsibility for meeting Ireland's EU emissions reduction targets is a collective one, transport will be required to play a significant role in the national mitigation effort.

The measures under consideration for transport will be wide-ranging and will focus on modal shift, behavioural change and large scale movement to alternative fuels and technologies.