The strategy represents an essential tool for Ireland to address the obligations under the Climate Act and international treaties.
The NTA is required, in so far as practicable, to perform its functions in a manner consistent with:
- The most recent approved climate action plan.
- The most recent approved national long term climate action strategy.
- The most recent approved national adaptation framework and approved sectoral adaptation plans.
- The furtherance of the national climate objective.
- The objective of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change in the State, as set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, as amended.
As currently outlined in the strategy, there is a deficit in targets to reduce GHG emissions. While the Demand Management Measures provide a range of tools to reduce emissions further, the legal frameworks around sustainable transport initiatives at the local authority level leave more disruptive initiatives vulnerable, if unlikely, to not being implemented.
The NTA could help with a national focus on the issue by providing annual reports on the reductions to climate emissions yielded from the ongoing implementation of the Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area. It would also be helpful for the public to see reportable achievements in transport modal shift that is yielded from local authorities implementing the plan.
The Transport Strategy could be enhanced to offer guidance to local planning authorities on publishing an overall policy approach to frame their more detailed policy objectives and their Local Transport Plans. The process would provide the public with an overview of modal shift, emissions reduction objectives, design references and a hierarchy for prioritising options from the thematic measures set out in the NTA Transport Strategy. e.g., the Avoid-Shift-Improve Model (Source: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (DGIZ) GmbH). This would assist policymakers in organising their approach and communicating the need for changes to spatial layouts and transport services.
In light of required climate action and the initiatives in Wales and Austria, all road projects should be assessed for consistency with the reductions in climate emissions as required under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 and the potential to undermine the economic viability of existing or proposed public transport, e.g., rail, including the Navan rail line.
I have concerns about including the road link between the N3 and N4 as documented at Measure ROAD8 of the Draft Transport Strategy. In light of this, it is considered that it would be helpful to undertake a study a) to analyse the nature and extent of the risks posed by issues arising on the M50 between Junctions 6 and 7, and b) to consider the full range of options to respond to and mitigate those risks.
Given the prescribed requirements for the TS to be consistent with the RSES for the EMRA and the preparation of a quantitative greenhouse gas assessment tool for spatial planning, it would be important that the environmental assessments of the strategy and its implementation play a firm role in reducing emissions. It is proposed that EMRA and the NTA collaborate to promote the use of QGasSP to assess transport options and their climate benefits/impacts to inform policy choices and project decisions.
It would be desirable to see a cycling czar appointed to radically drive the uptake of bicycle use and infrastructure in Dublin. Copenhagen, Paris and Seville have lessons to share and inspire policymakers and citizens alike in Dublin.