John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the senior Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for coming to the Chamber for this Topical Issue. I appreciate it.

As he will be aware, I live alongside the M50 in Scholarstown. When I hear the sirens of emergency vehicles early in the morning travelling along the motorway, I know there is going to be traffic chaos, as there has been an accident. The traffic chaos will stretch out into Knocklyon, Ballycullen and as far as Oldbawn, the N81 and back to Ballyboden. There has been significant residential development in the area, as the Minister will also be aware. That is because areas like Knocklyon, Firhouse, Ballycullen and Oldbawn are desirable places in which to live, make a home and raise a family. More development is under way.

Three years ago, I invited one of the most senior officials in the National Transport Authority, NTA, to the area. I drove them in my car for two to three hours, along the sections of the roads I mentioned in my constituency. I drove them from Firhouse Road West through Kiltipper, Oldbawn, along Killinniny and Oldcourt, Stocking Avenue, Ballycullen, Scholarstown, Stocking Lane, and out through Ballinteer, Knocklyon and Ballyboden. I pointed out my observations and ideas about how traffic management could be improved and ideas that were given to me by local residents' associations and individuals. One point related to how existing bus lanes were underutilised or, in some areas, non-existent, though there was road width to facilitate additional bus lanes. The official took copious notes, and that is where it began and ended. I have not heard a word back in the intervening time. I mentioned this in multiple meetings and briefing sessions with the NTA, and I raised it with its chief executive.

In the meantime, the focus of the NTA and South Dublin County Council has been on the design and implementation of cycleways. As a cyclist, I welcome the development of cycleways, but often they result in the impeding of the movement of public transport. In spite of the road width being available, there has been a failure to provide priority at particular junctions for public transport at specific pinch points along this route. There are ample opportunities at many of the junctions on the roads I mentioned from Oldbawn to Ballyboden to create priority for buses, but there are more plans for cycleways to take that space. Can both not be done? There was certainly no attempt to do both on Firhouse Road West.

Along the route that I have mentioned from Oldbawn, all the way out to Marlay, on routes that are used to access the M50, the N81 and also arteries into the city, there are multiple opportunities and road width to prioritise public transport movement over cars, especially at peak times. At the moment we have buses carrying scores of commuters, which is great. It is a huge improvement. There is a really regular bus service along many of the routes, but the buses are being stalled, along with cars, in long traffic jams. There is scope for significant improvement. Unlike other routes, it is not as if there is not scope for improvement. Metro and Luas are the ultimate solution. I have my beady eye on some of the Apple billions that are coming to the State, but that is in the medium term. I call for some leadership. When I have listened to what the Minister has to say, I have one or two suggestions that I hope he might be able to take on board, even in the dying days of the Government. I look forward to his response to my initial remarks.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy very much. I know the area he is referring to well.

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts, 1993 to 2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, the operation and management of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the national roads programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework and the NDP.

In accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, each local authority has statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local roads. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State road grants.

In the case of the Dublin councils, in view of the arrangements for the retention of local property tax, the council is required to largely self-fund its road programme. The implementation of its annual road maintenance programme is, therefore, the responsibility of the council.

Regarding the M50, in 2014 TII published a report on a study that was undertaken to identify a scheme of indicative demand management measures for the M50. The report, , identified a package of measures, including multipoint-variable distance M50 tolling.

I am just looking at the response I have, which relates to the M50 and TII's responsibility for national roads, but having listened to Deputy Lahart's introductory comments, that is not the issue he is looking to address; it is instead the local roads feeding into and crossing the M50.

I will put that response aside because, while it is all very useful information, it does not relate to the issue that the Deputy is addressing, which is local roads, and I know all of the various roads he is talking about. It relates to the M50 in one sense, which is that the M50 itself is at full capacity. There is nothing we can do about all the junctions and other feeder roads on and off the M50, which are at full capacity, and, therefore, there are no other traffic management measures that we can take.

The Deputy said that the key point is whether we can accelerate the bus services to help cope with congestion, which is a very serious issue on all of the approach roads on and off the M50. My answer is that, "Yes, we should". We need to do it because we have real issues around traffic congestion, reducing emissions and the quality of life for our citizens. I will give one example of where that has started to happen. Traffic management measures have recently been introduced in Dublin city centre through a pathfinder project, which will do similar to what the Deputy is suggesting along the quays at relatively low cost and without major civil engineering works. The measures were put in place and, two or three months later, my understanding is that they seem to be working in the sense that bus speeds and bus numbers have increased.

My answer to the question is “Yes.” It is a matter for South Dublin County Council in conjunction with the NTA because it has to come from local leadership and it cannot be centralised. As Ministers, or even as Dáil representatives, we cannot go around the country saying that people have to do this on this road and do that on the other. It has to be the local council. I absolutely support and encourage this. We need to get local councillors to take similar measures, particularly ones that we can introduce quickly. Some of the roads involved are wide distributor roads. My answer is “Yes.” We should be looking for the local council to accelerate this, even for measures that may come under the BusConnects network corridor developments. Could we introduce some of those earlier to accelerate bus speeds?

We should be careful about putting cycling provisions and bus provisions in conflict because both are needed. South Dublin County Council has done a good job with the cycling projects has introduced. Nonetheless, they are controversial. It is never easy to change anything but I would be slightly nervous if it was depicted that the cycle lanes are the problem. The problem is congestion and the number of cars. My primary answer is “Yes” but it is the local authority that will have to do it.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I made the point that we can do both. The Minister mentioned leadership, which is why I raised this issue with him today. I would like him to write to South Dublin County Council to initiate a task force involving not only the council and the NTA, but also local community stakeholders, such as schools and businesses. These roads are not half as congested when schools are not open. We need a conversation locally about how we can all work together with all the stakeholders and the leadership of the local authority and the NTA, which has shown scant regard for getting involved. It was a long and detailed afternoon drive that I engaged in a number of years ago. I am glad the Minister abandoned the official reply about the M50 and addressed the issue specifically. This is extremely stressful for commuters, parents bringing their children to school and everybody along that route. As the Minister said and as I pointed out, unlike other routes, there is scope for significant improvement.

Where does the leadership come from? I am trying to take a lead. While the Minister said he does not have a role, I urge him to write to the CEO of South Dublin County Council to invite him to set up a task force locally involving all of the stakeholders and representatives of residents' associations, community groups, boards of management of schools and local businesses to get all of their ideas. I do not have all of the answers to this, nor does the council. It needs to hear what the reality is on the ground and what might be workable, and then it is up to us, as politicians, to look for funding for the solutions that it may come up with. Plenty of solutions are available on the ground to ensure the quality of life that people experience in these areas continues to be improved. The key piece is leadership. I am trying to lead by raising it today. I ask the Minister to use his role with the county council and the NTA.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As it happens, I am meeting the NTA later this morning so I will raise this and will push for it to look at south Dublin. On another point, the Deputy is right about focusing on making it safe for our children to take the bus, walk or cycle to school. On days like today, when traffic tends to be bad and the weather is not great, 30% of the morning rush-hour traffic is children being driven to school. In many ways, that is very attractive for parents as they are chatting and they are in a safe space with their child. However, when everyone is doing the same thing and everyone is caught in gridlock, it is very debilitating.

We have had a real challenge where some of the safe routes to school programmes were advancing and the challenge has often come down to local opposition. It is difficult. We have created this car-dependent transport system over five decades and when we try to switch towards a safer system where kids might be able to get the bus, walk or cycle, it means changing the road network and that often brings opposition. Our biggest difficulty has actually been local opposition. In many instances, it is not that the council is not willing to do it but that there is no local support. In politics, we all know that local community support is needed. I will talk to the chief executive of South Dublin County Council to suggest it does similar to what Dublin City Council is doing with its accelerated, advanced measures. I agree that we have to bring the community with us on that. We have to be careful that it does not become a massive, long-winded, complicated and legal process where we end up doing nothing in the end. We have to engage with local communities and bring them in, but that is for the council.

My Department will be very supportive. Finance is not always the key issue. To a certain extent, at some of these pinch points where there are wide distributor roads and we might be taking a lane, putting in a bus gate or taking some other such measures, it is political will rather than financial support that is the key. It is time for us to do this. I think people will be surprised. When we introduce the measures, they are very popular. The fear of them in advance is often the biggest obstacle.