Niamh Smyth
Question:15. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [19970/24]
View answerTuesday, 21 May 2024
Questions (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:16. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [21665/24]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:17. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [21750/24]
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Paul Murphy
Question:18. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [21753/24]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:19. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [21762/24]
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James O'Connor
Question:20. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [21829/24]
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Cathal Crowe
Question:21. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [21830/24]
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Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:22. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [22676/24]
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Mick Barry
Question:23. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [22815/24]
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Rose Conway-Walsh
Question:24. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with transport will next meet. [22999/24]
View answerOral answers (13 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 24, inclusive, together.
Transport-related issues can arise in a number of different Cabinet committees, given their relevance to multiple policy areas. Climate action is one and economic growth is another, as is the provision of housing, regional development and the like. For example, the Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change considers environmental and climate change dimensions of transport, as well as the implementation of transport-related policies and measures contained in the Government’s climate action plan.
The Cabinet committee on the economy and investment oversees the implementation of the programme for Government commitments aimed at sustainable economic recovery, investment, and job creation. This includes the implementation of the national development plan under which record levels of investment in transport infrastructure are now being made. The Cabinet committee on housing deals with matters of transport as they relate to the supply of large-scale delivery of housing under Housing for All. This includes, for example, the monitoring of the progress of major transport-orientated development opportunities. Issues relevant to transport can also arise at other Cabinet committees, such as the Cabinet committee on Northern Ireland and the work we are doing relating to the A5.
As with all policy areas, transport issues are regularly discussed at full Cabinet meetings. It is the Cabinet where any formal Government decision is made. In addition to meetings of the Cabinet and Cabinet committees, I regularly meet with Ministers, including the Minister for Transport, to discuss particular issues and participate in other relevant meetings. For example, on 15 April, I met with the Road Safety Authority and relevant Ministers to discuss action in response to the rising level of deaths on our roads, and I subsequently chaired a meeting of the ministerial committee on road safety on 2 May.
There are ten contributors and we are running out of time. There is up to one minute for each contributor.
Seventy-nine people have died on our roads so far this year. It is a heartbreaking and frightening number. A third of those people were under the age of 25. That is a figure that strikes fear, particularly for parents, throughout the country.
The two main contributors to this terrible statistic are driving under the influence and speed. We have seen the advertisements and the campaigns and we know there are an additional 30 minutes of Garda checkpoints. However, we cannot hope to tackle this issue without a multi-agency approach. Our local authorities are tasked with the design and maintenance of the vast majority of our roads, yet for the past six years they have not been supplied with road traffic collision data from the Road Safety Authority. How can we expect local authority engineers to design safer roads and tackle collision blackspots when they are not even given the data they need? This information has been accumulating since 2018 but, due to a GDPR issue, it is not being shared. The history of road traffic accidents on particular roads has not been given to the engineers charged with making these roads safer.
Seventy-nine people have died so far this year. Seventy-nine families have suffered the devastating loss of a loved one. We must do everything we can to bring down these awful numbers. When will the Department of Transport finally resolve this frustrating and dangerous situation?
A major anomaly has emerged for taxi drivers as regards their licensing that I would like the Taoiseach to address. During the pandemic, taxi drivers whose taxis were just about to reach the ten-year point when they had to get rid of them were given a two-year extension because there was no work for two years. Taxi drivers got the two-year extension if their cars were registered 141, 131 or 121 but cars registered 151, which are just about to come up to the ten-year point next January, do not get that extension. This is even though these cars were off the road for two years, were not used for two years and, therefore, did not have the wear and tear. A few other years are also affected. In fact, there is now a bizarre anomaly whereby younger cars will have to be got rid of before older cars that got the extension. Taxi drivers are very simply asking that cars in the fleet that were affected by two years of effectively no work should get the two-year extension to remove that anomaly. They had to pay back loans on those taxis when they had no work.
I will ask the Taoiseach to correct the record on something he said regarding the first group of questions. He said that when the tents were removed, all those people were offered other accommodation. That is not the case. A story published online in The Irish Times in the past half hour stated that tents on a Dublin canal had been cleared again leaving approximately 40 men without accommodation this afternoon after another multi-agency operation. It could be said that just happened but the same thing happened - maybe the Taoiseach does not know about it - and the same story existed on 1 May, when tents were removed and 30 men were left without accommodation.
My transport question is on the issue of a private jet ban. The Government has backed off from any suggestion of a ban on private jets. That appears to be after lobbying by the US-based National Business Aviation Association and American multinationals. They sent what were effectively threatening emails to the Minister, Deputy Coveney. How can we not deal with the big, rich emitters but ask ordinary people to take action?
I raise the issue of the N25 corridor between Midleton and Youghal. The Taoiseach will be familiar with this given I have been raising it since my election to the Dáil. It is a key issue for me. Unfortunately, there have been a number of major fatal accidents on and issues with that stretch of road. We have worked hard to get this issue up the political agenda in the Department of Transport. With a Green Party Minister in place and other issues around prioritisation of the national development plan, it has been hard to attain any progress. We have been waiting a number of months for the appointment of a design consultant.
I point out how despondent I am at the length of time it takes these Departments to conduct so-called studies and assessment reports and at how many months or sometimes, in this case, years are wasted in getting on with the projects that need to be done, especially when there are ones lying idle that have been done historically. Will the Department look at this matter through the Cabinet subcommittee meetings? Will the Taoiseach raise it with the relevant Ministers?
I commend the kids of Dundalk Grammar School on their campaign regarding the playing of Gaelic football. I have had very positive discussions with the principal, Mr. Graham, and with the GAA. It is hoped we will see something positive at the end of that. It was a very well-conducted protest. As I said, the kids were brilliant and the school was great to allow it. It was democracy in operation. It is a pity we do not see more of it.
I bring up the issue of the 100X, which is a Bus Éireann Expressway service between Dublin and Dundalk that includes the airport. There was an issue with the number of cancellations. There may be a short-term fix but we need to look at the stock. There has to be a wider conversation. I would like to reinforce that issue with the Minister.
Some 80% of more than 600 transport workers recently polled said that abuse and antisocial behaviour is an issue for them at work. A majority in receipt of this abuse expressed the opinion that the situation has worsened in the past year.
Some of the workers have experienced physical assault, some of which has been of a particularly vicious character. Three quarters of those from ethnic minority backgrounds have experienced racist abuse or harassment. The National Bus and Rail Union has campaigned for a dedicated transport police force and has been joined in that call more recently by colleagues in SIPTU. However, I am asking the Taoiseach about a far simpler matter today. Will he support the call from transport workers for anti-assault screens to be fitted to all public transport buses to protect drivers? What is his opinion on the timeframe for putting such a measure in place bearing in mind the urgency of the situation?
As we go around to canvass in Mayo, transport and public transport are among the biggest issues that come up. In addition to the lack of bus shelters and basic transport infrastructure, what comes up is the lack of interconnectedness between private and public operators and between city buses run by the likes of Bus Éireann, Citylink and GoBus and Iarnród Éireann services. For example, in Ballina, the GoBus service is not allowed to stop at the train station or the main bus station. It has to carry people another half mile down the road. It makes no sense whatsoever. This means that passengers on the GoBus service miss the bus to Blacksod or in other directions. Will the Taoiseach instruct TII to look at these situations, especially those across County Mayo I am interested in, to see if there is a better way to do things and whether we can have better co-operation and collaboration between routes to provide people with a proper service?
One of the sentences that has been repeated to me a lot over the past week is that the Government seems not to understand that there is a country outside of the Dublin area. There is a real divide in this country. It is really important to recognise the economic situation, especially in the midlands and north west, which is now a lagging area with lower incomes than the European average. The Government has also loaded fuel tax on people to try to force them out of private cars but has not put public transport infrastructure in place. Projects such as the western rail corridor and the Navan to Dublin rail line are simply not happening. There are tumbleweeds in that regard. We have heard of Thomas the Tank Engine. Is it the Taoiseach's legacy to be known as Simon the slowcoach?
That is very good.
Rural Ireland wants to use public transport but we are making it very difficult. The 800 bus through Tullow town only meets the Arklow train to Dublin and not the Carlow train to Dublin. It is also stops far short of the new ETB campus on the Kilkenny Road in Carlow. The Taoiseach will know there are thousands of learners there but it is not served by public transport. We need to address all of these issues. We need to look at the services to make sure they are there for people. While I am speaking to the Taoiseach, I will also look for an update on the N80 road, which runs just outside of Carlow. He will be aware of the accidents there. Will he give me an update as regards safety and funding?
I am new to Taoiseach's questions but we have come a long way from asking when the Cabinet committee will next meet. We will do our best. I thank colleagues for raising a variety of very important issues.
I will take a moment on the very important issue Deputy Kenny raised about data sharing between the RSA and the local authorities and when that issue will be resolved. The RSA is working closely with key organisations to resolve the data protection issue and to establish a firm legal basis for the resumption of collision data sharing with local authorities. A cross-government group is being led by the RSA to resolve the issue. There have been a load of workshops between the RSA and An Garda Síochána, which collects the collision data in the first instance, in December, January, February, March and April to review each of the 161 individual data fields. There have also been meetings between the RSA, representatives of local authorities and the Department of Transport. Based on this intensive engagement, a consultation pack with revised proposals was submitted to the Data Protection Commission for consideration on 10 May. It is important to be clear that safety analysis and the funding of safety schemes is ongoing through a range of other mechanisms while the data sharing issue is being resolved. In the interests of time, I will write to the Deputy with the details.
I will certainly look at the issue Deputy Boyd Barrett raised in respect of taxi drivers. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to take a look at it as well. There seems to be logic in what the Deputy is saying but I do not want to create any expectations because I am not across the detail. I will speak to the Minister on the matter and we will revert to the Deputy.
I am not going to get into a back and forth on the issue raised by Deputy Murphy. I do not doubt his bona fides but I am told that the people in tents affected by the Mount Street and Grand Canal multi-agency operations were offered accommodation. I will also be clear that other people can arrive. I do not say that in a critical way. People are facing a very challenging situation. However, I am genuinely confident that more people are in better shelter with access to sanitation and in a safer environment as a result of the multi-agency approach. I thank the multi-agency teams for their work. I will seek a view on the ban on private jets and ask the Minister for Transport, who is also the Minister for climate, to revert to the Deputy on the situation.
I acknowledge Deputy O'Connor's long-standing work and campaign in respect of the N25 route from Midleton to Youghal. He raises it consistently and I sense his frustration at the wait for the appointment of a design consultant, the time lag his constituents feel there has been in that regard and the impact the issue has on safety and quality of life. I will ask the Minister for Transport to revert to him directly and I will also do so myself.
To respond to Deputy Ó Murchú, I am not fully familiar with the campaign at Dundalk Grammar School, although I have been there. I am delighted to join any action of local democracy in a school where students are having their voices heard. I will ask TII and the Minister to come back to the Deputy in respect of the 100X Dublin to Dundalk route.
On Deputy Barry's question, I condemn any attack on a transport worker, as I expect everybody in this House and people throughout the country also would. All employers, including public sector employers, have a duty of care to their workers and a duty to listen to workers regarding any measures that can be taken to improve staff safety in the workplace. Transport workers often work in very challenging and tense environments. Assaults should be condemned outright and we should consider anything we can do to mitigate such assaults. While I am again not across the detail, anti-assault screens sound logical. I will ask the Minister for Transport to revert to the Deputy on the proposal.
I will ask TII to look at the frustrating situation Deputy Conway-Walsh has highlighted on behalf of her constituents whereby there is no joined-up approach to bus routes, stops and shelters and come back to her.
I advise Deputy Tóibín that I am very well aware there is a country outside of Dublin. I am enjoying travelling right across it, as I am sure the Deputy is. We will continue to do so intensively over the next 17 days or so. Regarding the review of the western rail corridor matter, we are very close to progress in that regard and to the publication of the review. I will come back to Peadar the performer on that matter.
I hope Deputy Murnane O'Connor will allow me to come back to her on both the importance of linking the train route to bus services for people in Carlow and the road issue. To save her asking me, I have also asked the Minister for further and higher education to meet the Deputy with regard to Carlow College.