Ireland’s Transport Future Must Be A Priority in Budget 2020

AA Ireland is calling on Ireland’s current and future transport needs to be allocated sufficient funding in Budget 2020, if Ireland is to succeed in its efforts to reduce reliance on both fossil fuels and the private car.

The AA is encouraging government to look beyond the short term ideas of simply increasing taxation on fuel, and to look at solutions which will have a longer-term benefit as the country tries to minimise CO2 emissions associated with transport. In particular, the organisation highlighted that a mix of tax incentives to encourage commuters to use cleaner forms of travel, along with a commitment to providing better quality cycling infrastructure and public transport would be of much greater benefit than merely increasing existing taxes.

“While the technology may change in the coming years, the private car is going to continue to play a role in Ireland’s transport future and, with this in mind, we need to look at ways to make sure the national fleet is as clean both in terms of air quality and CO2 emissions as possible,” Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. “The existing grants for those who want to change to an electric vehicle have proven moderately successful and we are starting to see the start of a real willingness on the motorist’s part to go electric. However, now is the time to think of bigger and better ideas, such as diesel-to-electric scrappage schemes or additional grants to make sure an electric vehicle is more at least equally as enticing to anyone looking to purchase a new car in the years ahead.”

The AA also highlighted the importance of increasing investment in both cycling infrastructure and public transport in order to encourage motorists to use alternatives to the private car.

Recently released figures showed that the €21.6million was allocated to walking and cycling infrastructure by the National Transport Agency in 2018. While this figure is an increase of over 90% on the previous year, the AA highlighted that additional funding must be allocated to quality cycling infrastructure, particularly in urban areas, in order to continue the growth seen in cycling numbers in recent years.

“What we’ve seen time and time again when it comes to both cycling and public transport in Ireland is that the idea of ‘build it and they will come’ holds true, where people have access to reliable public transport or quality, segregated cycle lanes they are more than willing to make use of them and leave the car at home,” Faughnan added. “Many of our cities are experiencing significant congestion issues and we can’t wait years for plans like BusConnects and Metro North to come into force and hope they fix our problems. We need to look at what can be done now and improving cycling infrastructure across Ireland is an obvious win, both in terms of reducing our congestion issues but also helping Ireland meet our climate change obligations.”