I thank the Deputy. Enhancing and decarbonising our public transport systems forms a key pillar of the Government's climate action strategy. Investment in public transport has increased in line with Government policy to encourage modal shift and planned capital expenditure under the national development plan favours new public transport schemes over road projects on a 2:1 ratio. The Environmental Protection Agency's provisional 2021 emissions data demonstrate that public transport is responsible for less than 5% of…

The Deputy is absolutely right on the taxi fleet. That is one area where we can make significant changes. Because taxis are used extensively, as well as the vehicles themselves if they switch over, the kilometres they do as a percentage of our overall kilometres is significant. In that regard there are encouraging signs showing we can change. We introduced very generous grants for the switchover. Already 1,177 fully electric taxis, 3,300 hybrid taxis and 40 plug-in hybrid taxis have been introduced into the taxi fl…

This was discussed in an earlier question. The OECD report, commissioned by the Climate Change Advisory Council, provides the model for how we do this and it requires systemic change. Central to that is the reallocation of road space to provide the priority bus lanes which get efficiency. The more frequent services we have, the more people will use it. That also benefits the taxi fleet which has access to the same bus lanes and will get the same prioritisation. They are in a sense part of what the OECD argued for -…

I will again refer to the OECD report I just mentioned, which sets out a requirement for large behavioural change in the direction of sustainable modes, travel reductions and shared mobility. Along with road space reallocation and communication efforts to address car-centric mindsets, it identifies the mainstreaming of on-demand shared services as one of the policy areas with a high transformative potential to reduce car dependency. My Department's national sustainable mobility policy, SMP, was published in April. …

I agree with the Deputy that the Dublin Bikes scheme was transformative. Dublin City Council led it out and the public loved it. I also agree that we now need to look at the next stage. I am speaking about Dublin and the supply to other cities to make sure bike schemes expand into other areas. It is confined and relatively restricted at the moment. I am interested in having that concept included in the study and the ongoing discussion. We do not want to interfere with what is for many people a successful working mo…

This is just one element to it because what we do will have to be quite extensive. I mentioned an example in Finglas where Dublin City Council had installed facilities for e-car and e-bike charging. That was attractive and it could be an opportunity to provide access to a variety of different providers. I am looking at the climate fund to see if we could support such infrastructure being rolled out on a much more widespread basis in our five cities as a way of encouraging private operators into this space. The muni…

The NTA has long recognised the importance of high-capacity park-and-ride facilities at designated public transport interchanges and has been providing these facilities as part of the ongoing investment in public transport. To support the timely delivery of park-and-ride sites and a cohesive overall programme, the NTA established the park and ride development office, PRDO, in February 2020. The office provides design services to assist in the delivery of park-and-ride projects across the State. Regarding Galway, th…

I do not disagree with the Deputy, and never have, on the need for a variety of public transport services in the greater Galway area, in particular Galway city, whose acute problems are, as everyone knows, probably worse than any other city's. The specific locations of the park-and-ride sites, the details of which I presume have been shared with Galway City Council, are at the likes of the M6-N6 junction on the way into the city, the N83 north of Claregalway and Oranmore railway station. For them to work, bus servi…

Again, I do not disagree with the Deputy. I believe in the cross-city link. There is an opportunity for us to show that we can develop alternative public transport systems that work for the people of the city more than anyone else. Visitors are also critical, of course. We need public transport services, active travel and other measures that allow us to meet the climate change targets. The Deputy is correct, in that the scale of change needed to meet the 50% reduction in transport emissions and to reach net zero wi…

I agree that the safety and security of public transport passengers and staff are critical matters that first and foremost must be managed by every transport company, working with An Garda Síochána, where appropriate. There are currently no plans to develop an overarching public transport security strategy. My Department and the National Transport Authority engage regularly with the public transport operators on the issue of security and ensuring the safety of passengers and staff. The NTA has established a working…

I will go back to Deputy Smith's first comment that a lot of people are proposing a separate transport police. It is important that we address whether that is key, one way or the other. I recently visited a new control centre being built by Iarnród Éireann. It is an amazing facility behind Heuston Station. There we are seeing co-location of An Garda Síochána services with the Irish Rail management system. That this points in the right direction. We should have a continuing close connection between Irish Rail and An…

I disagree with Deputy Smith on one point. I agree that we do not need a separate policing service but from my long experience on the Luas, I believe that company's system, which is often about fare evasion as much as policing, provides a welcome and secure presence. Those workers and that company do a good job in that regard. I do not believe gardaí will check for fares and so on. I agree with Deputy O'Rourke that it is an issue also for bus services and in particular spots or areas. As we all know, there are time…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 23 together. I am acutely aware of the service issues currently being experienced across the public transport network in Dublin and the negative impact it is having on the travelling public. I reassure the House that I and my officials have met with senior management from the National Transport Authority in relation to these service issues and we are keeping the situation under close review. Unfortunately, many operators are experiencing staffing difficulties at present, both…

I join with other Deputies in offering, on behalf of the Green Party, my condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy. Our thoughts, prayers and support go out to them in what must be a very difficult time as they head into a month's mind to recall and treasure their lost loved ones. I was fortunate to be able to visit the village of Creeslough on Sunday two weeks ago when I attended mass in St. Michael's Church. Fr. Seamus Murphy stood in as substitute for Fr. John Joe Duffy wh…

I look forward to a comprehensive and balanced outcome from COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. I appreciate the value of having a self-described "African COP" to continue progress made at COP26 on key issues such as climate finance, loss and damage, adaptation and delivering greater ambition. Together with my EU colleagues, I am committed to working with parties to enhance collective ambition across mitigation, adaptation and finance within this critical decade for climate action and in line with the best available science.…

The issue of the Energy Charter Treaty is under consideration, I think, across European countries. There is due to be a meeting in Mongolia, I think, in the coming weeks. A lot of concern has been expressed, rightly, about the need to make sure the Energy Charter Treaty and every other international treaty stitches in the Paris Agreement and delivers and supports that. I do not think that has any bearing - it has not in any way, as far as I have seen - on the issue of our ending of oil and gas exploration licences.…

We tend to make very good quality contributions, but we do need to increase the finance, and it will rise to the €225 million promised.

The latter issue is connected to our membership of the Beyond Oil & Gas Alliance. We know the science. If all the known reserves let alone new resources or reserves are used, it would send us beyond a critical tipping point. As a result, we must join with other countries in starting to restrict supply in order to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground. What was the first part of the Deputy's question?

Under climate law, we are due to present our climate action plan and our long-term strategy in the coming weeks. One obviously influences and complements the other. That will inform the same approach we have with the European Commission in terms of our contribution. Europe brings our nationally determined contribution to the climate talks as a common approach. We will make our contribution to the European effort and it will be backed up by our long-term strategy, which is also required under our climate law.

The climate action plan contains a target to reduce emissions from the residential sector by retrofitting the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a building energy rating, BER, of B2 cost optimal and installing 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by the end of 2030. Earlier this year, the Government launched a package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades. In recognition of the importance of high-impact shallow…