People are right to be “angry” about delays in delivering major public transport projects, according to the Minister for Transport, who said progress needs to be accelerated in order to meet climate change targets.
Eamon Ryan on Wednesday told the Oireachtas committee on transport that plans for the Metro North light rail scheme had been decades in development and the Bus Connects project was now some five years in planning.
During a discussion on transport infrastructure, the Green Party leader said transport rather than agriculture would be “the hardest area in meeting our climate targets”.
He said there was “an urgent need” to have regional cities and towns adopt sustainable transport and development plans.
He said meeting targets for a huge increase in electric vehicle use and delivering on public transport plans would not on their own “deliver the level of emissions reduction that we need to achieve, therefore we need to do more and we need to do more faster”.
Walking and cycling
The Minister said people were right to be “angry” that plans which would allow for a switch from car use to improved public transport and better options for active travel such as walking and cycling were taking so long.
The National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland (Nifti) was designed to support population targets in towns and cities by providing sustainable public transport, Mr Ryan said. However, he said in truth balanced regional development was not happening and many people still faced long commutes to jobs in major cities largely in private cars.
Mr Ryan said there was much potential for public transport in Limerick, but he was against a proposed regional distributor road, which would promote private car use, generate additional carbon emissions and run counter to the framework’s goals.
Limerick’s potential
He said Limerick could develop and preserve its historic core if more railway lines and stations were built and if bus services improved under BusConnects.
If the city did not seize the opportunity to integrate development and public transport, Mr Ryan said Government funding could be directed elsewhere, perhaps to Galway.
The Minister clashed with committee chairman Kieran O’Donnell, a Limerick TD, who defended the county’s green agenda, and Clare deputy Joe Carey, who said the distributor road was necessary in addition to public transport.
Mr Ryan and Mr O’Donnell also clashed over the proposed M20 Limerick to Cork motorway. The Minister said his preference for bypassing major towns was well-known and that there could be some safety work done on the existing road, but “I don’t think it has to be a motorway”.
