Micheál Martin: 'Nothing holding back' Cork's light rail
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There is "nothing holding back" ambitions for Cork's light rail, Micheál Martin has insisted, as he defended the progress being made towards decarbonising transport and reducing gridlock in the city.
The Tánaiste was speaking after another week of traffic congestion and bus delays in Cork city.
On Wednesday alone, 90-minute delays were reported during the morning rush hour, while social media was awash with complaints that buses were very late. Works on MacCurtain St have also been blamed by commuters and active travel users for exacerbating the delays.
Environment and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said in his post-budget briefing this week that transport will be the most difficult sector when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, even more so than the likes of agriculture and energy, because of decades of entrenched lifestyle patterns.
Speaking in Cork, Mr Martin defended the pace of the transition towards more public transport in Cork.
"We are going to fund light rail and there's nothing holding that back - obviously there is a lot of procurement, a lot of planning and so on. BusConnects is moving ahead. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has accepted a lot of the submissions that were made by residents and I argued at the time there was no need for some of the more extreme positions that were put.
"I think a lot of progress has been made. There has, to be fair to all sides, a lot of consultation between residents and the NTA, and BusConnects will roll out.
"I think there has been behaviour change - we need to pay tribute to Cork City Council in terms of the pedestrianisation of so many streets in the city centre now, particularly during Covid-19, that are being maintained. There is not as much traffic going through Cork now as there was 10 years ago, or indeed 20 years ago, and we have to maintain that momentum", he said.
In July, the proposed Cork Luas route, which was to be announced that month, was delayed until later this year as the project’s timeframe was once again stretched out.
A spokesperson for the NTA confirmed additional work was required on the city centre section of the route following discussions with Cork City Council.
Planning and design work for the €1bn Cork light rail system, one of the most significant elements of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy through to 2040, has already cost over €1.8m to date.
The 17km route will include 25 stops and will have a 45-minute journey time along its full length.
Two-thirds of greenhouse gases in Cork City are generated by road transport and home energy, research commissioned by Cork City Council and carried out by University College Cork (UCC), revealed last month.
Cork City is releasing nearly 1m tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, the study by UCC said. Road transport, predominantly from cars, accounts for nearly 30%.