The spectre of war looms large at present. This is a very real security crisis and it is contributing to an energy crisis as well. We know we must move away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, not only for obvious climate reasons but also for energy independence and energy security reasons. There is a vast opportunity to create tens of thousands of jobs in this country. We have a good plan in place, but politics, economics and technology move quickly. We should seek to accelerate and expedite the existing pla…

Go raibh maith agat.

I am happy to have ceded some of my time to my colleague, Deputy Durkan. The €100 which is going to every electricity customer in the State is welcome. Similar schemes have been introduced in other EU countries. I am the Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. Last week, the committee waived the requirement for pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill, which is going to bring relief to struggling householders. We were guided in our decision by officials of the Department. I thank them for comin…

Two weeks ago, a car crashed through a wall outside St. Paul's National School in Limerick. Thankfully, this happened a few minutes before the school finished for the day and no children were injured. We are seeing motorist behaviour outside schools throughout the country that is putting children at risk. Parents do not believe it is safe to let their children walk or cycle to school and as such it is compounding problem and a vicious cycle. We can break the vicious cycle through the safe routes to school programme…

As we sit here today the spectre of war once again looms over Europe. We can but hope that it will amount to sabre-rattling of old superpowers and that the dreadful vista of another conflict on our Continent on the edge of the European Union does not come to pass. Throughout history, wars have been fought ostensibly over territory, identity, religion and a myriad of other excuses or reasons but at the heart of many if not most wars has been resources, specifically access to and control of resources. Europe is depen…

As the Minister of State is aware, almost three years ago, the people of Limerick voted in a plebiscite to have a directly elected mayor for Limerick city and county. Indeed, it was the people of Limerick who took this brave step when other cities and counties in Ireland chose not to. I am glad to see the Minister of State's predecessor, Deputy Phelan, here. He was the driving force behind this legislation. Deputy Phelan is on record as saying that this will be the most significant reform of local government in Ire…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I was a member of the implementation advisory group before I found myself in this particular role. I know quite a bit about this. It is critical the office has meaningful powers. The new directly elected mayor of Limerick, who I hope will be elected this year, should have the power to select staff and directors of services. He or she should be able to set the priorities of the council, have power over the budget and the spending of the council and have the power to raise…

I support the words of my colleague, Deputy Naughten. Everything he said is correct. We do not have any time to lose in harnessing the vast resource on the western seaboard. If we do that, we will set this country and Europe up for many decades to come. I commend the Deputy on his comments. The Trans-European Network for Transport, TEN-T network, was agreed by the European Council in July 1996. It has been on the agenda at many European Council meetings since then, most recently back in June of this year, when the …

The co-operative societies Bill is on the long list of upcoming legislation and I understand the heads of Bill are being prepared. The intent of the Bill is to consolidate and improve legislation governing co-operatives. As the Tánaiste, is aware, the legislation is very old. I mention this in the context of developing community wind energy and it is a priority of the Government that community energy be a significant piece in the clean energy landscape in future. If we want this to work, the co-operatives legislati…

I welcome this Bill. It is urgent given, as the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, pointed out, the need to appoint additional independent members in light of the resignation of two officials from the Department of Transport in accordance with the court ruling. I pay tribute to Deputies Mattie McGrath and Jackie Cahill, and others, for their work on this issue in the previous Dáil. It is appropriate at this point to acknowledge the grief experienced by families around the country. The marine environment is an unfo…

I am sharing time with my Government colleague, Deputy O'Dowd. I wish to acknowledge my fellow spokespeople on climate, Deputy O’Rourke from Sinn Féin and Deputy Bacik from Labour. I believe both Deputies to be genuinely committed to the issue of climate. Having listened to them, some of their criticism and their takes on the climate action plan are valid and legitimate. We welcome that kind of opposition. Some of the criticism is not valid or legitimate. To use Deputy O’Rourke’s words, I would say that we should m…

I welcome the provisions in this Bill for e-scooters and other personal powered transporters. However, I feel we are in danger of overhyping both the benefits and the dangers of e-scooters. No doubt e-scooters will be useful for some people, especially people who do not enjoy secure cycle parking, but we need to avoid what I might call techno-utopianism, but also techno-fatalism. I do not personally think that e-scooters will be a game changer for our villages, towns and cities. They will be of some utility but I d…

I commend the Minister of State on her very thoughtful words, as ever, and I thank her for sharing her time. I also commend the committee on publishing this very important and thorough report. Some years ago, I travelled with my partner to the Netherlands. In the historic city of Nijmegen, we stayed in the home of a Dutch man who kindly rented us the spare room in his apartment. The man was quadriplegic and the apartment had been carefully designed to meet his needs. In the developed world we recognise the importan…

I welcome this Bill and I commend the Labour Party on bringing it to the House. I asked for time to speak on this Bill, and I am grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, for facilitating me, because it is exactly the type of initiative we need in this House. As a Government Deputy, I recognise that the Government does not have all the answers as we face our immense climate challenge. We can, and must, seek out ideas from all parties in this House. I have already said this to Deputy Bacik, the climate spokesp…

It has been mentioned previously, but it is worth reminding ourselves, that the reports published by the air accident investigation unit contain the facts relating to the reported occurrences that have been determined. This information is published to inform the aviation industry and the public of the circumstances of these occurrences. The unit is clear that issues concerning liability are neither investigated nor described in association with its investigations, and matters relating to blame, liability, responsib…

What are the Minister of State's plans for developing a strategic framework for the delivery of sustainable transport modes?

I am heartened by the commitment to deliver the sustainable mobility planning framework by the end of this year. The framework is a successor to the smarter travel policy, which brought us up to 2020. There was a very good consultation on that policy, which finished around the time of the general election. As we move forward with the new plan with increased ambition, it will be critical to our success. One of the weaknesses of the smarter travel policy was that it very much focused on commuting to work, whereas we …

I am very happy to hear the Minister of State's emphasis on rural transport. If we are to solve the challenge of the rural-urban inequity divide generally, we simply have to tackle the challenge of rural transport provision. We should look to pursuing what the Germans and Swiss are doing, with the model of every village, every hour. I acknowledge the Connecting Ireland launch last week, which was fantastic. It will deliver huge benefits to villages and towns across rural Ireland and will give people an alternative …

To follow on from Deputy Brady's question, I point out that it is clear to us all that there has never been more investment in rail. It is therefore a bit unfair of the Deputy to say that. I do not want to put the Minister of State of the spot, but I ask her to outline similar type investments for our side of the of the country, in Galway and in Limerick. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has announced ambitious plans around the midwest and in Galway. Could the Ministe…

In the programme for Government, this Government committed to investing €360 million per year throughout the life of the Government on active travel infrastructure. In the recent national development plan, that was extended to 2030. This is welcome. It aligns with the United Nations recommendation. Few countries are actually doing this. I ask the Minister of State for a status update on capital spending on walking and cycling infrastructure. There is an allocation from the Department for 2021 and I ask the Minister…