Public Transport Motion
Mr.
Kelleher: I welcome this motion by the Opposition because it gives
us an opportunity
to discuss the issue of the modern, urban phenomenon of gridlock
in our major cities. As a result
of the success of recent years, we now have cities coming
to a standstill at regular intervals throughout the day.
The Opposition
is in a cloud of amnesia. It
was obvious for years to everyone that
something had to be done to address the fundamental problem of gridlock
and traffic chaos in our cities.
I was delighted to hear Opposition Deputies
talk about the fundamental need to invest in public transport, to
insist on bus lanes and to ensure that trains and rail services are
radically improved. The statistics
show that nothing was done for many
years. It is only in recent
times, since we came into office, that
we have decided we must invest immediately in public transport, including
rail, DART and bus services. I
am delighted the Minister has
publicly committed herself to do what is required.
On the funding of infrastructural development,
we must take a radical approach to
the development of our infrastructure with reduced funding from Europe,
the continuous growth in the economy and increased car numbers. We must opt for public-private investment funding.
Otherwise, we will stifle
the economy's growth and bring the Celtic tiger to a very rapid standstill.
When one travels
from Dublin to Cork or Galway one sees the ad hoc planning by
the National Roads Authority, whereby a bypass is planned and developed and
the funding is provided but then a bypass or road is not planned for
the next village. We must
develop a national strategy to design roads
which will be funded by public-private investment. If that is done, we
can continue the growth of this economy well into the next millennium.
My proposal for public-private partnership funding
is that major insurance or
banking institutions would provide the initial capital investment and
the Government would operate a lease back system over a period.
Section to follow:
Section XX follows.
Question Numbers:
Last Modified
by:
Phil Griffin at 10/12/98
12.23.51 p.m.
Previously modified
by: Elizabeth
Donovan, Phil Griffin
Take Number:
XX
Next Take Number:
YY
Forum
DÁIL ÉIREANN
Sitting Time
Sitting Date
19:20
9 December 1998
Text:
(Mr. Kelleher
continuing)
The Government
would not then have to lay out the initial capital sum and could lease
back the infrastructure over a period of time and then it would be vested
in the State. There is a need
for that, and if it is not done soon we
will be unable to manage our infrastructure and develop it in the long term
because European funding will have dried up. On the issue of public transport, people will
not use public transport unless there
is an incentive in the form of bus lanes, ambience or the fact that it
is cheaper and more time efficient.
So far our public transport systems
are none of those things.
Mr. S. Ryan:
There was an increase today.
Mr. Kelleher: Huge investment in public
transport is necessary. I welcome the
Minister's announcement of 150 extra buses for Dublin and of extra buses
for Cork. If we are to continue
down that road, along with car pooling
and the encouragement of park and ride systems, it might go some way to
alleviating the problems.
Local authorities
have a major role to play, particularly in the planning of
roadworks and road resurfacing. I
am amazed that local authorities
insist on carrying out roadworks during peak traffic hours. It perplexes
me to this day that they cannot work out a schedule whereby roadworks are
done when traffic is at a minimum.
There are still major junctions in
cities where local authorities dig up cross-roads on a Friday afternoon to
carry out work, leave them unattended for the weekend and resume work
on Monday.
On the issue
of car pooling, local authorities should set up a car pooling system
whereby individuals who travel to the city from outside it each morning
at a set time could feed relevant information into a computer system within
the local authority, the local authority could correlate all the information
received and facilitate car pooling for those who wish to do so. Such car pooling could be encouraged by offering
free parking to those who avail
of it. If this were tackled
in a serious manner it would reduce the incidence
of people sitting in gridlock every morning, one person to a
car, and in a very short time the culture of using one car to transport four
people to the city from outside it would be adopted by large numbers
of people. This would go a long
way to addressing the problems of
pollution and gridlock.
I welcome the
provisions made by Dublin Corporation and Cork Corporation to encourage
park and ride systems. It
is very effective and of major benefit wherever
it has been put in place and has been properly enforced with bus lanes
kept free. In view of the new-found interest in public
transport on the part of the leader of Fine
Gael, would it be possible to institute a bus lane from the Dáil to County
Meath to ensure that he is here on time for the Order of Business.