State must discourage motorists, says official

FISCAL MEASURES aimed at reducing dependency on private cars are required to combat climate change and improve general health, the most senior official in the Department of Transport said yesterday.

There was also a need for an "aggressively-supported" programme of walking and cycling, said the department's secretary general Julie O'Neill.

She told a seminar on climate change that public consultation on the Government's Sustainable Transport Strategy had revealed "broad agreement with the Government's vision, including a recognition that fiscal measures will have to be introduced to discourage people from using the car unnecessarily".

The Government strategy, which is expected to be published within weeks, aims at achieving sustainable transport in the Republic by 2020.

But Ms O'Neill told the seminar at the Institute for International and European Affairs that the campaign to reduce emissions, while an important part of the sustainable transport agenda, was "only a part".

The agenda would also improve public health and increase productivity.

Research "proves that those who cycle to work are more alert and tuned in than those who drive", she told the seminar.

The Government strategy would also offer a "significant public health dividend in terms of combating obesity and some forms of mental illness as more people take regular exercise by availing of healthy modes of travel".

The success of the strategy would also return public spaces to people "as they switch from cars to public transport and cycling and walking".

Ms O'Neill said achieving sustainability in transport would involve:

• reducing overall travel demand by policies such as integrating public transport with spatial planning;

• maximising the efficiency of transport to reduce reliance on fossil fuels;

• reducing transport emissions;

• improving accessibility to transport.