I welcome this Bill. It underpins the investment the Government is making in public transport. There is a false narrative which seeks to divide urban and rural Ireland and which states that this Government is all about roads and that the previous Government was all about public transport. That is absolute rubbish. There is investment in MetroLink, which will be a critical project. Deputy McAuliffe mentioned the extension of the Luas to Finglas, which former Fine Gael Deputy Noel Roc, advocated for even as a councillor. It will be transformative for Dublin. In addition to the other Luas extensions that are proposed, I want to advocate for a Luas extension to Poolbeg. The Minister of State will recall that I raised this as a Topical issue. He was here when I raised it. That was almost a year ago, and I am delighted to say that there has been a lot of progress on and support for the project thanks to the work of the Minister for Transport, the two Ministers of State in the Department, the NTA and the TII. When I raised it earlier with the Taoiseach, he acknowledged the importance of the project proceeding for the enormous village that is being built on the Glass Bottle site in Poolbeg. More than 10,000 people are due to live there and, potentially, an additional 10,000 people will work there. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, when a study was done in 2016 about that project, the demand was not sufficient, but that all changed. Since I was elected as a TD, I have used every vehicle available to me to advocate for the project. I have met the NTA and TII. I have engaged with the Minister of State and the Minister on this issue. A new demand survey was taken out, which proved that, with the development of the Glass Bottle site and other adjacent development in the area, there is absolutely a need for an extension to Poolbeg. We were informed as recently as a few weeks ago that the project has moved from phase 1 to phase 2 and that it is hoped that a statutory public consultation relating to the project will begin in 2027. That is a tangible example of how we are making progress in public transport, and in a different form of public transport. It is fair to say that where we have seen major investment in the past five years is in the area of high-frequency bus routes. I heard many Deputies speak about the challenges they have had in the engagement relating to BusConnects corridors. However, in areas where high-frequency bus routes exist, they are hugely popular and successful. The only frustration people have is when buses do not show up. In other words, when there are ghost buses. That is a big issue with certain bus routes. I have had it in my constituency. In some areas, it is caused by the private operator, Go-Ahead, and, in other cases, it is Dublin Bus that operates the services. When we deliver more high-frequency bus routes, we have to ensure that they are exactly what it says on the tin, namely high-frequency routes, because that is what increases use of public transport. If people know they have to be in college at a certain hour, the bus must pass their door at a particular time. If they know they have to be at work at a certain hour, the bus must arrive to get them there. Full or packed buses are another problem we have faced with the introduction of high-frequency bus routes. Lots of people want to use them but there is not enough space. That is where Luas and extending light rail comes in. It is blindingly obvious. Many more people can be transported on a Luas, particularly from this area, than on a high-frequency bus route. I should say that it is intended to have a high-frequency bus route to serve the area as well. What I hope is that there will no let up in the context of the progression of this light rail project. I hosted a public meeting not so long ago to engage with the community on where this project is at and where it is going, and to listen to people. I was genuinely overwhelmed, both by the attendance at the meeting and the level of interest among people in the issue. The Minister of State would be familiar with what happens when one holds public meetings. I did one a number of years ago on BusConnects where there was huge anguish and real fury about the proposed route through Terenure. There were hundreds of people at the door. What I was trying to do there was ensure that we got people to engage with the process. Unfortunately, that particular bus corridor is currently the subject of a judicial review in the High Court. We need to learn from this. The way to deal with public transport projects is not to march everyone up a hill and then try to go with the least offensive option at the very end. We need to work with communities right from the beginning. That is what I have tried to do with this Luas to Poolbeg project. I have tried to take the initiative, deliver leaflets, inform people about what is going on, knock on doors and encourage people to come along to public meetings in order to hear their views. There is no question that when you put yourself out there like that as a politician, particularly as a Government TD, people will ask why the Luas is not there already. They can see the apartments under construction. What I am focused on as a new TD in this Dáil is progress and getting this project over the line. We know that if you start to deliver a pipeline of projects for light rail, there is no end to what you can do. We have the capital available to continue to invest in public transport. We have not extended the Luas since the cross-city project in 2017. We have to keep extending it in order to meet the demand and make provision in respect of the population growth that is taking place. I hope the Minister of State would support me in the Department in supporting the NTA and the TII as they progress their way through the project. I certainly look forward to working with all local TDs and councillors to get this project over the line.

Sentiment score: 0.14