James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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175. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider the use of no idling signs of which the purpose would be to prevent cars from idling in certain places while leaving their engines running thus reducing unnecessary carbon emissions being emitted into the atmosphere; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55467/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The planning, design, and implementation of individual road projects and features is a matter for each respective local authority for regional and local roads and for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) for national roads.

At a national level, my Department is responsible for the legislative basis and for developing supporting guidelines and policy in regard to traffic matters and to reducing carbon emissions from transport.

The Government is strongly aware of the close link between certain air pollutant emissions and negative public health impacts. Idling vehicles can contribute to local air pollutant emissions levels at particular locations, in particularly in dense urban areas where it is difficult for air pollutant emissions to disperse. The Urban Transport-Related Air Pollution (UTRAP) Group interim report (2021) examines this issue and recommends on how best to reduce vehicle emissions in Irish towns and cities.

Among the best ways to reduce emissions from private vehicles across the road network as a whole, is to remove older more polluting vehicles from our streets, and to encourage modal-shift to sustainable travel, walking and cycling, and electric vehicles. In addition, Part 1 of the Five Cities Traffic Demand Management Studypublished earlier this year proposes a range of measures to combat overreliance on cars. The report includes a tool kit of measures that local authorities can use to help them to reduce emissions, tackle congestion, improve air quality, and improve the overall urban environment in our five major cities. The final study report is expected to be published before the end of 2021.

With regard to the heavy-duty vehicle sector, which includes buses, trucks, and coaches, engine shut-off systems are available in the market that can be fitted to minimise engine idling. Most of the public service obligation (PSO) bus fleet currently in operation in our cities and towns have these shut-off systems. Best practice for professional drivers, to avoid unnecessary engine idling time, is part of the Road Safety Authority’s Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) training.