Speeches:

On Transport 21, Integrated Ticketing, Dublin Bus and Ireland's Rail Freight Fiasco.

Dáil Speech Wednesday 14 November 2007

I am not convinced that Transport 21 is a plan for the sustainable development of transport. The Green Party is concerned that placing 80% of the capital investment over the next several years in roads is not the right way to promote social cohesion, economic success or environmental sustainability. I hope the Minister for Transport will carefully consider his predecessor's plans before accepting them as gospel. The present Minister, Deputy Dempsey, has made excellent comments about the need for sustainable policies. However, we need a change of course.

When Transport 21 was launched I was surprised at its lack of detail compared with the Dublin transportation initiative final report of 14 years ago or many other fine transportation documents. The so-called "slow modes" of transport, cycling and walking were not mentioned. As a land-use planner I noticed too that there was almost no reference to land-use planning which is crucial to transportation.

I am enthusiastic about the references in the programme for Government to multi-criteria analysis on future projects and by the establishment of a national transport regulator and the discussion about joining up land use and transportation, particularly in the greater Dublin area. Greater Dublin is no longer confined to Kildare, Meath and Wicklow but includes Cavan, Laois, Offaly, Carlow and Kilkenny where there is a significant suburban sprawl. Unless the people in these new homes have access to high quality public transport we are creating a mess that will take several generations to sort out.

I have grave concerns about rail transport. We are going backwards in respect of rail freight. While most European countries increase their rail networks to transport freight we are decreasing ours. There was almost a 50% reduction in the volume of freight carried by rail between 2005 and 2006, according to the International Union of Railways, going from 1.8 million tonnes to 970,000 tonnes. That is a crisis for the rail network and we must do something to alter that. The new Minister will consider these issues carefully but we must do a U-turn on rail freight. This comes at a time when our carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector are up by 160% from 1990 levels and road transport accounts for 96% of these emissions, according to the EPA's report in 2005.

I am sure the Minister is well aware of developments with regard to the disconnection of lines at Foynes and the North Wall rail jetty in Dublin and the proposed closure at North Esk in Cork. I am concerned that if we keep stripping this country of its rail freight infrastructure we will soon be beyond the point of no return with no alternative to road haulage.

This is not necessarily the fault of the Minister or his predecessors but the most damning issue is that Irish Rail did not make a submission to the Department of Transport's Statement of Strategy 2008 - 2010. What was Irish Rail doing that precluded it from making a submission suggesting rail had a role to play in the future of transport in Ireland? Many people are aware that Ireland is the only country in Europe where railways are not used after 11.30 p.m., despite the hundreds of millions of euro invested. Cork's freight yard is slated for closure in January 2008 and Irish Rail's regional managers seem to be turning away business as to court business would, apparently, incur disfavour higher in the company. What is going on at Irish rail? Perhaps this approach can be traced to the negative sentiments expressed by Irish Rail's CEO, John Lynch, under the previous Minister for Transport. It is time to chart a change in course and the first step is to make proper use of the €4 million invested in a high specification container fleet purchased in 2002. Grass is now growing under the wheels of those container wagons at the Limerick depot and something must happen in this regard. The use of demountable units means all key products can be carried in containers and container compatible units and I urge the Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, to examine in detail what can be done in this regard.

I wish to spend a moment on the issue of integrated ticketing because with it in mind I pulled out my old Dublin Transport Initiative, DTI, final report from 1994. There seems to be a widespread belief that the issue of integrated ticketing has been around for five or ten years but on page 139 of the DTI's final report from 1994 there is mention of integrated fare structure and ticketing. I would like to take the CEOs of Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and the Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, by the scruffs of their necks, kicking and screaming, to London. I would give each of them an Oyster card and a day to see how it works. I would then bring them back, give them six months to implement such a scheme in Dublin and if they did not achieve this I would fire them. It is quite simply outrageous that integrated ticketing has been an issue for 13 years without such a system being put in place. If the jobs of these CEOs depended on delivering an integrated ticketing system in Dublin they would have done so ten years ago.

Their jobs do not depend on this so we must drag them, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century - or perhaps into the mid to late 20th century, since which time cities around the world have taken integrated ticketing as a sine qua non of a decent public transport system.

Regarding Dublin's bus service, I was glad to hear an Taoiseach express sympathy with the commuters left walking in the rain this morning. Even Deputy Joan Burton admitted to having a bad hair day due to the difficulties in finding a bus this morning. The bus drivers simply want to start their routes at the Harristown depot, rather than the middle of town, and this seems a reasonable request. I am sure the drivers also have unreasonable requests in this matter but I find it reasonable that one should start one's route in the suburbs where commuters are and where many of the bus drivers live. Other elements are also required, however, such as a regulator for Dublin Bus and that is part of the solution.

If I had my way I would sell off the bus depots in Ringsend, Summerhill and Donnybrook and use the capital earned to build decent new garages north, south and west of Dublin - where people live, where drivers live and where people want bus routes to start at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. It seems crazy that buses are parked on some of the most valuable land in Dublin much of the time when that land could be put to far better use. We probably do need some residual capacity close to the centre of Dublin but leaving dozens of acres of land covered in buses close to the middle of the city is a mistake. I would retain the facility at Broadstone because, as Deputy Tony Gregory mentioned, we need to reinstall the rail link that was there until the middle of the last century.

We must provide more buses as Dublin Bus has been stuck in a rut with around 1,000 buses operable each year for the past decade. Some improvements have occurred in this regard and I would give the extra buses to the company. If Dublin Bus delivers the right routes that is well and good; if it cannot deliver the right routes perhaps we should allow the private sector its fair share of the market. This is a matter for another day.

There are some fine elements in the programme for Government and in Transport 21 but I want to put it on public record that we cannot meet our climate change targets while spending the vast bulk of capital funding for transport on new roads. A slight change of heart is required and we must run climate change policies across every Department, particularly the Department of Transport. I look forward to a change of heart in transport policies.