Government invests in cars, cars, cars and more cars

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday April 03, 2003 13:52 by Graham Caswell - Green Party

(Public transportation is for kids and poor people)

In a world of oil wars, climate change, gridlock, and 2-hour commutes the government is investing massivly in cars and a future that has already been shown to be a disaster elsewhere. Unsustainable, destructive behaviour is being hardwired into the Irish infrastructure.

"Green Party Transport spokesperson, Eamon Ryan TD, said today, “Five years after their National Roads Needs Study the Government has finally produced a matching 20 year plan for our rail service and their message to the Irish people is crystal clear, stick with your car."

"This years capital budget gives €1250 million to new roads as opposed €261 million to public transport. It is obvious that public expenditure is massively biased in favour of roads and this is set to continue for the next 20 years. The Minister for Transport is never done telling us about all the public transport plans that he has sitting on his desk. However, recent correspondence from the Minister for Finance released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the Government’s transport policy has been agreed. Motorways will be built and there is no money for anything else."

"Mary O’Rourke spent her five years trumpeting ‘A golden age’ of rail travel, which in reality involved some safety measures on the Kerry, Sligo and Westport lines but no new or additional rail services. Minister Brennan looks set to extol same message for the next 20 years: Keep the weeds down on our existing track, try to avoid any crashes and buy a few new carriages every now and then to keep the complaints down. "

"It is remarkable that both Strategic Rail Review and the National Roads policy place the emphasis on interurban routes. We are already investing €22 billion in the interurban motorways to Dublin. This should be scaled back in light of the fact that the Strategic Rail Review is targeting the same routes. It is hard to believe that the report failed to see the potential in new commuter rail services to cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway as well as Dublin. With The Western Rail line written off, the hubs of Mallow, Ennis, Tuam, Castlebar, and Ballina will remain figments of the Minister for Environment’s imagination. The National Spatial Strategy may as well be consigned to the bin."

"The greatest cost in running our rail system is the capital cost in providing
and maintaining the lines. The more services that can be run on the same lines the lower the marginal cost of these services. We will maintain rail lines that will only have a few intercity services running along their lines
each day. Our cities will be clogged with individuals heading to work in their cars because the current Minister for Transport lacks the vision to put new local rail services on these empty rail lines. Our economy, our environment and our society will suffer from the lack of ambition that the Government has shown today," concluded Deputy Ryan