2.5 | Supporting Successful

2.5 | Supporting Successful Places and Vibrant Communities

Ireland’s climate change goals, particularly with the coming introduction of carbon budgeting. Improvements to rail and interurban bus services can reduce the need to travel by car between our cities, while the development of charging infrastructure and uptake of electric vehicles can serve to mitigate emissions from those journeys which are taken by car.

The National Planning Framework estimates that the population of Ireland will grow by one million over the next twenty years to almost six million people. Where this population lives and works will be a key factor in how Ireland develops, socially and economically, and the National Planning Framework has set the objective of accommodating one quarter of the growth in Dublin, one quarter in the other four cities, and the remaining half in towns and rural areas. The provision of appropriate transport infrastructure will play a crucial enabling role in the delivery of this objective and supporting quality of life for all Ireland’s inhabitants.

While ensuring surface access to ports and airports is primarily a question of facilitating the efficient movement of economic activity, NIFTI will support the development of sustainable mobility options for private passengers to access strategic links, such as progressing the MetroLink project.

In rural areas, it will not be viable to provide the full suite of sustainable mobility options available in our cities and towns. Nevertheless, the strategic provision of park and ride facilities can be an effective means of increasing the catchment area for public transport services in certain areas. Services such as Local Link can reduce reliance on the private car to some extent, and new innovations such as mobility as a service have the potential to allow for the intelligent expansion of routes in future. Greenways can also make a contribution to reducing private car use in rural areas by providing an alternative means of accessing larger settlements. Overall, however, the private car can be expected to remain the primary transport mode for people living in rural areas so, as with interurban travel, it will be important to support the transition to low-emission vehicles.

The densification of Ireland’s five cities will place additional strain on urban transport networks which are already approaching capacity in many locations. For the NPF spatial goals to be delivered, it is therefore essential that urban congestion is tackled. This will mean increasing public transport capacity and usage, and investing in active travel to discourage private car use as much as possible. Beyond the cities, the provision of park and ride close to transport links can ensure access to employment and services for those living outside the major settlements and reduce the need for people to commute into the cities by car. In the medium-term, congestion charging may be required in some of the cities and is being considered in the context of the Sustainable Mobility Policy Review as informed by the Five Cities Demand Management Study.

Many of the same measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions can also have a beneficial impact for other elements of environmental sustainability. Increased public transport and alternative fuel usage can help to improve air quality and reduce noise pollution, while active travel brings health benefits. Conversely, if urban densification occurs but internal combustion engine cars remain the primary transport mode, emissions and air quality will worsen. It is essential that the transport sector does not cause undue negative outcomes in terms of health and quality of life, while enabling the urban growth envisaged by the NPF.

On the interurban network, besides providing people with more opportunities to travel by sustainable modes, the transport system and new infrastructure should support rather than undermine the NPF spatial objectives. For example, in the absence of other measures, improving the connection between two urban centres contributes to interurban connectivity but could encourage sprawl, thereby impacting on compact growth. Where such tensions arise, sequencing will be an important consideration to ensure that the right investment is undertaken at the right time and negative spillovers are mitigated.

National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland | The Purpose of NIFTI