5 July 2021
There is a noticeable stubbornness in
Irish transport policy concerning the reduction of emissions – a reliance on
electric cars to solve the problem surrounding Ireland’s second most polluting sector.
Already there exists incentives for
purchasing electric cars, such as electric vehicle and charging point grants
and very low motor tax for electric vehicles. Ultimately, the government’s plan is to disallow the purchase of
new non- zero emissions small vehicles by 2030, another push for the general
population to replace their petrol guzzlers with electric vehicles.
The proposed solution, then, is to
fill congested rush-hour motorways, school entrances and shopping centre car
parks with, well, more cars. Different cars, but still cars.
Ireland is reluctant to let go of its
reigning car culture, and alternative forms of transport like cycling, walking
and public transport tend to suffer for it.
There are plans within 2019’s Climate Action Plan to expand
cycling and walkway networks in cosmopolitan areas, but it is difficult to
envision a smooth transition considering the numerous issues that already exist
concerning the mix of cyclists and motorists on Irish roads combined with the
future projected growth of Ireland’s
population of an additional million people by 2040.
Without vastly improved public
transport, this growth will involve a huge increase of vehicles on already
congested roads.
The problems surrounding car culture,
commuting and cosmopolitan areas in Ireland are not a single-fix issue.
Jobs are largely condensed in city
centre areas, particularly Dublin, and this leaves anyone outside of these job
hubs left to make long commutes back and forth to work.
Areas that were once thriving
communities become nothing but additional notches in the ‘commuter belt’, and rural communities starved of jobs
suffer from youth emigration to city centre areas.
Public transport is an infamous issue
in rural Ireland, where many suffer from travel, mobility and accessibility
poverty and are therefore forced to own a car, not only to commute to work but
to access day-to-day services. It is a combination of forced car culture and a
concentration of work in city centre areas which leaves many rural communities
isolated and without enough foot traffic to sustain thriving towns and
villages.
Nothing has made this issue of
inequality of access more obvious than the current COVID-19 pandemic and the
implication of restricted movement and remote working and schooling solutions.
Spotty or non-existent broadband
connectivity in rural areas has made home schooling incredibly difficult for
children; there are myriad families and individuals who are further isolated by
a five-kilometre limit on movement.
The spirit of a community’s collective ownership of their local
area is often beneficial to the fight towards better and innovative climate-positive
developments, but this cannot happen when communities are cut-off, empty and
governance is hyper-centralised.
Efficient, expanded carbon neutral
public transport links would not only be an improvement over roads and
motorways backed up with car congestion, but they would also grant quality of
life benefits to an often older and isolated cohort who live in rural areas.
The government’s reluctance to expand public
transport links across the country is often blamed on poor planning by our
predecessors in how homes and villages were built, and the low population
density of these areas.
But surely this is one large
investment that would not only benefit Ireland’s current generation, but the
generations to come after – and good climate infrastructure is about tending to
the needs and livelihoods of present and future generations.
Good public transport links would
bring opportunities to create jobs in rural areas and better housing conditions
than those found in Dublin’s
precarious, expensive and underregulated private rental market; and populations
coming together in formerly deserted areas allows new community cohesion
between older and younger members of Ireland’s population.
Community bonds ensure people are not
isolated, but looked out for and looked after; they allow people to come
together, put down roots and think about what is best for the future of their
communities.
Greener, self-sufficient communities
are an important part of the ideal version of creating a climate-positive
future all over the world. That cohesion will not happen if parts of Ireland
remain cut-off and isolated from the rest.
Electric vehicles are indeed an
important part of a less carbon-intensive future for Ireland. But they cannot
be the sole crutch that the government leans on to improve the transport sector’s emissions, and they should not be
allowed to excuse a lack of investment in good public transport links – and,
ultimately, better links between rural and urban Ireland, its communities and
its people.
Vanessa Conroy is a
Masters in Social Sciences (Rights and Policy) candidate in Maynooth
University. She is currently engaged in a gender focused examination of
Irish environmental policy. Her interests include mental health, radical
education, fat studies and rural policy.
This article was written as part of the
2020/21 undergraduate elective course Environment, Sustainability and Social Justice taught by
Sinéad Mercier at the Department of Applied Social Studies, Maynooth
University.
The post Opinion: Driving towards progress, or driving communities apart? appeared first on Green News Ireland.
