FG plans to introduce a single ticket system for all public transport

FINE GAEL will rename the Department of Environment and introduce a singleticket system for all public transport, including taxis…

FINE GAEL will rename the Department of Environment and introduce a singleticket system for all public transport, including taxis, if elected to government.

Announcing the party's policy on the environment yesterday, the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, said the party would "rename and expand the Department of the Environment to the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development".

He said Fine Gael had "a series of measures to promote the use of public transport and reduce traffic congestion". These included a flexi ticket which could be used on buses, the DART, trains and taxis. The Minister for Justice Mrs Owen, who was at the launch, said the system would also be an anti crime measure.

Mr Dukes said the traffic management scheme, Operation Freeflow, would be put on a permanent basis and the Luas system would be integrated with the DART.

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The party would also support a green taxation commission to advise the Government on financial measures to encourage recycling or discourage non environmentally friendly products.

The Waste Management Act had provided targets for recycling, Mr Dukes said, and Fine Gael would encourage households to separate waste for recycling. This would involve households using segregated bins.

Mr Dukes said the party would establish local environmental committees near landfill sites "to give people in the area a say in how they are affected".

In a swipe at his election opponents, he said the Fianna Fail/PDs alliance would "slash public services". He accused Mr Bertie Ahern of "only just discovering what is involved" in coalition politics.

Asked whether the Rainbow coalition would include the Green Party in a new government, Mr Dukes said: "I don't envisage including the Green Party in the next government because our intention and aim is to return the three parties."

The anti Sellafield campaigner, Mr Fergus O'Dowd, who is canvassing for Fine Gael, said worries had increased in Louth over the nuclear installation. It was impossible to prove a direct link but he had recently met a 34 year old Louth woman whose six friends from childhood had developed cancer, two of whom had died.

Asked about the latest opinion poll, Mrs Owen said there was a lot of good news in the polls for the Government parties".

Catherine Cleary

Catherine Cleary

Catherine Cleary, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a founder of Pocket Forests