Proposals for agriculture in the programme for government are dealt with elsewhere in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal and the transport segment is the one that caught this writer’s attention. Before turning to transport, the following enigmatic statement adorns the section on agriculture, inserted it appears without drawing out its implications: “We are conscious of the limitations of examining greenhouse gas emissions solely on a production basis. We will conduct a review of greenhouse gas emissions on a consumption basis, with a goal of ensuring that Irish and EU action to reduce emissions supports emissions reductions globally as well as on our own territories.”

Transport is expected to contribute substantially to emissions reduction in the decades ahead

Emissions from agriculture are measured on a production basis (the Irish do not eat four times the European average) and this statement, if acted upon, would diminish greatly the appearance of excess emissions from Ireland’s farm sector.

Outside the main cities, there is little public transport capacity, walking and cycling are not a practical option for most country folk

Transport is expected to contribute substantially to emissions reduction in the decades ahead and the programme contains radical proposals. The Green Party has succeeded in shaping the document, with a strong emphasis on public transport and on encouraging walking and cycling. Outside the main cities, there is little public transport capacity, walking and cycling are not a practical option for most country folk and it is not an accident that car ownership, and average annual mileage, are higher in rural Ireland than in the urban areas.

Sales ban

The programme emphasises the decarbonisation of the car fleet – there will be no imports or sales of petrol or diesel vehicles after 2030 and their use will be phased out from Dublin and other Irish cities from 2030 onwards.

The sales ban from 2030 is not new – it was contained in last year’s Climate Action Plan – but banishing most of the pre-2030 car fleet from Dublin and other cities would be a serious step.

Decarbonisation will, for many years to come, consist of replacing older petrol and diesel models with fuel-efficient newer ones – cost-competitive electric cars are not expected to be widely available for another five or six years.

An important proposal reflecting Green Party priorities is a faster increase in the carbon charge

Fears of a ban on urban use of petrol and diesel cars after 2030 would inhibit sales of newer variants and the retention of bangers in the fleet.

An important proposal reflecting Green Party priorities is a faster increase in the carbon charge, which would apply to transport fuels but also to gas and home heating oil, the most popular domestic fuels in Ireland.

It is a pity that Ireland, and the rest of the EU, did not swivel the taxation of road journeys and of home heating more in this Green direction many years ago. There will be greater reliance on low-carbon electricity in both sectors as the carbon charge rises.

One of the Green demands was that one-fifth of the transport capital budget should be devoted to walking and cycling projects, including greenways, the total spend set at €360m per annum. In addition, they secured the following statement: “The government is committed to a 2:1 ratio of expenditure between new public transport infrastructure and new roads over its lifetime.” Public transport “infrastructure” signifies investment in railways or tram lines.

The improvements to the national road network in recent times have ushered in a boom in intercity bus transport for both State and private bus companies

There must be some influential people in the Green Party who equate public transport with rail-based technologies. Most public transport passengers in Ireland, even in Dublin, travel by road in buses. The improvements to the national road network in recent times have ushered in a boom in intercity bus transport for both State and private bus companies – last summer there were up to 50 bus departures per day from Galway to Dublin city centre and to Dublin Airport, now the busiest bus station in Ireland.

The State-owned Expressway company offers 300 services per day at the airport, which has direct links through various operators to every city and large town in Ireland, north and south.

With €360m from the transport capital programme earmarked for cycling and walking, there will be at best €1.5bn left, of which two-thirds will not be nearly enough for all these rail schemes

The programme for government promises un-costed electrification of the intercity lines, the underground Metrolink in Dublin, DART expansion, an underground DART interconnector in Dublin, light rail for Cork, Galway and Limerick, and the reopening of unidentified disused lines around the country. The Metrolink alone has been costed at around €3bn, the other schemes are un-costed.

With €360m from the transport capital programme earmarked for cycling and walking, there will be at best €1.5bn left, of which two-thirds will not be nearly enough for all these rail schemes.

The remainder, say about €500m per annum, will build little of the uncompleted sections of the national road network, not the M20 from Limerick to Cork nor the Mullingar to Longford section serving both Mayo and Sligo.

The programme commits to balanced regional development but the bias against roads, intended to host a car and bus fleet due to be electrified and decarbonised, will leave several regions poorly connected, to no obvious purpose.