Letters

Public transport and rural Ireland

Challenges and hope

Tue Jan 3 2023 - 00:08

Sir, – Michael Harrington’s letter (January 2nd) equating Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan’s stance of being pro-public transport with being “anti-car” and, ipso facto, “anti-rural” epitomises the inevitable consequences of successive decades of rural housing policy failure.

Many of us have long pointed to our proclivity for dispersed “one-off” settlement patterns as fundamentally at odds with decarbonisation, particularly when the vast bulk of this trend is simply counter-urban commuter sprawl. Rather than following a European model of nucleating population in towns and villages to the best possible extent, we’ve now locked in what is amongst the most private car dependent and public transport-inimical societies anywhere in the world.

The social and political antagonisms created by this rod for our own back will unfortunately continue to stymie the urgency of our best-laid climate plans. In these circumstances it is perhaps inescapable that people will prefer to blame the messenger rather than to the self-inflicted root cause of the problem, which was both widely predicted and predictable. Sadly, the news last week from the Office of the Planning Regulator that, in 2021, “one-off” houses accounted for 45 per cent of all houses permitted in the State means that we clearly still have not got the memo. – Yours, etc,

GAVIN DALY,

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Dublin 1.

Sir, – Finbar Kearns is right about the challenges of sustainable transport in rural Ireland (Letters, December 31st) but I wish to offer hope that we are not as he fears “destined to depend on significant car usage forevermore”. Eamon Ryan visited the Dingle Peninsula (a windy and remote, mountainous peninsula where our population is older, more sparsely populated and car-dependent than most parts) to discuss this very problem. Our plan to reduce the number of car-driven trips and car ownership is now a Pathfinder Project aimed at demonstrating what is actually possible for rural Ireland. Among other aims, our seven-times daily bus service around the peninsula must be improved and connections made more affordable and convenient. At sheltered bus-stops, mobility hubs for affordable car, bike and e-bike rental will facilitate journeys onward, and road redesign will encourage more walking and cycling. Car usage is not only bad for the environment, but expensive and ultimately reduces our opportunities for good health and interaction with our neighbours. Not everyone will or can switch, and most of us will retain a car, but we know that there is significant room for car shedding and a return to the joys of active travel that in fairness has stood us in good stead for many millennia. There is hope, and we must at least try! – Is mise,

Dr PEADAR Ó FIONNÁIN,

Dingle,

Co Kerry.

Sir, – Richard Bannister (Letters, December 28th) expresses frustration regarding the non-availability of national rail services on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day.

Spare a thought for those that sit in traffic on the N17 daily looking at an intact but disused railway running parallel between Sligo and Galway.

Since the line closed in the 1970s, the populations of the urban areas served by the line have more than doubled. Galway’s traffic woes are a national laughing stock.

For just 1.5 per cent of the NDP transport budget this line can be brought into use and in so doing also bring Tuam (by far Connacht’s biggest town without a rail connection) back onto the rail network.

This would offer people the option of quality comfortable and reliable public transport while helping Government achieve its aim of a 50 per cent reduction in transport-related carbon emissions by 2030. – Yours, etc,

ULTAN KEADY,

Caherlistrane,

Co Galway.

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