The Green Party believes in accessible communities that are a pleasure to live in

We advocate a low-emission, efficient transport system in order to make commuting easier, to tackle climate change, create healthier communities and to improve the economy. We want to ensure that urban spaces are planned for the benefit of their inhabitants, with good transport links green spaces.

Make commuting easier

• Plan for better connections between homes and workplaces
• Create transport hubs and orbital bus routes for better connectivity
• Allocate funding for greatly expanded cycling infrastructure

Bad planning makes for long commutes wasting people’s time. We want to get traffic congestion out of our cities and make it easy to get to work on public transport or cycling. Pedestrian-friendly city centres are the way of the future.

Cleaner transport for healthier communities

• Introduce hybrid and emission-free buses
• Provide additional incentives for electric vehicles, including an improved charging network and exemption from tolls
• Allocate for cycling and expand Ireland’s greenways network

Emissions from transport are a large part of Ireland’s carbon emissions as well as contributing to poor air quality. We are facing large fines and greater health spending if we can’t reduce our transport emissions considerably. The Green Party have a number of policies to reduce emissions from transport.

A new blueprint for urban development

• Require green infrastructure planning and green spaces to be integrated into all planning processes
• Establish a National Transport and Planning Agency to coordinate new development with transport provision
• Institute a Site Value Tax (SVT)

Ireland needs a co-ordinated planning system that will prevent a return to the urban planning mistakes of the past. We favour the consolidation of our current planning laws into a more accessible Planning Code. This would make planning applications, objections and decisions much more accessible to the average citizen. We support an integrated planning system that provides for proper urban community development with a focus on mandatory green spaces and proper transport links for all areas.

Investing in sustainable transport infrastructure

• Provide a light rail service for Cork and studies of viability for Galway, Waterford and Limerick
• Invest in additional greenways and greenway tourism around the country
• Invest in an all-Ireland rail network
• Provide additional Park-and-Ride facilities

Investing in sustainable transport infrastructure is much more cost effective overall and brings multiple benefits such as lower traffic congestion, shorter commutes, reduced energy use and emission outputs, increased economic competitiveness, and healthier communities.