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Stakeholder engagement

This Policy impacts a wide range of stakeholders, particularly the citizen. As such it requires regular and effective engagement and interaction with these stakeholders to ensure the Policy is delivering on its goals. A new National Sustainable Mobility Forum will be convened on an annual basis to review progress.

Forum will be convened on an annual

basis to review progress.

Representatives from across the transport and mobility sector, both providers and beneficiaries, will be invited to participate in the forum. These will include representatives from relevant transport providers (public and private) and trade unions; local authorities; advocacy groups for transport users (for example cyclists, pedestrians, disability, passenger and consumer representatives); academics; environmental interests; and regulators.

National Transport Authority Advisory Council

To enable the NTA to enhance its existing role in relation to the sustainable mobility sector, the authority’s remit will be expanded further, in line with the NPF commitment, to extend its transport planning functions to include all of the cities. In light of this, section 17 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 will be amended to establish a broader national level advisory council to engage with the NTA around the discharge of its functions. The National Transport Authority Advisory Council will consist of an independent chairperson and its members will include representatives from the regional assemblies, An Garda Síochána, trade unions with members working in public transport, business interests, community development interests, disability interests, environmental interests, and transport users.

Public engagement and citizen “buy-in” will be key to achieving modal shift and meeting our climate targets. Engagement around the benefits of sustainable mobility and raising awareness of the availability of alternative options to the private car, particularly for shorter journeys, can help support behavioural change. A largescale impactful media campaign will form part of this engagement, acknowledging the wide variety of cohorts within the travelling public, their particular circumstances and transportation requirements.

National Sustainable Mobility Policy | Principle 2: People Focused Mobility

Case Study | Get Ireland Walking

Get Ireland Walking (GIW) is an initiative of Sport Ireland, supported by Healthy Ireland and delivered by Mountaineering Ireland. It was established in 2013 with the core aim to unify and enable the efforts of all agencies and organisations interested in promoting walking. Through the implementation of the new GIW Strategy 2022-2024 and under the ‘Theme – Environment’, GIW aims to address factors such as access, safety, connectivity, mobility, and quality of the public realm space including pathways. GIW aims to connect walkers with suitable walking environments and advocate for improved pedestrian infrastructure and recreational walking routes.

and co-production with partners. GIW aims to build on local and national alliance with communities and key stakeholders to achieve shared objectives and outcomes.

Community toolkits will be co-developed to assist community leaders and champions to encourage and advocate for more sustainable walking. GIW aims to identify more places and spaces conducive to walking. The new GIW strategy is committed to align national and local strategies which prioritise walking in the design of settlement patterns and the delivery of sustainable infrastructure that is safe, inviting and caters for all users of all abilities.

Get Ireland Cycling is a similar initiative of Sport Ireland, Healthy Ireland and Cycling Ireland and a Get Ireland Cycling Strategy is expected to be published in 2022.

GIW acknowledges a broad range of factors affect whether people choose active travel as a mode of transport and will explore solutions to address these key issues through consultation

National Sustainable Mobility Policy | Principle 2: People Focused Mobility

Research

support existing research programmes and draw on the expertise available across academia and industry, both in Ireland and internationally.

The Policy needs to be supported by ongoing research to identify needs to inform best value for funding and investments, and provide a solid evidence base for interventions. While acknowledging the strong evidence base for existing policy work, there is a need to develop this further in the sustainable mobility and climate research space, recognising in particular that there is a vibrant and growing academic capacity available to support this. Critical areas for research include behavioural change in transport; just transition in transport; transport resilience; and the built environment.

With €35 billion in infrastructure investment under the NDP, it is important that our project appraisal processes ensure future transport investments contribute to and are well aligned with meeting our climate commitments. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with support from the OECD, is reviewing the Public Spending Code to strengthen the Government’s capacity to take into consideration environmental aspects in the public investment decision making process. This will look at options for accounting for climate risk and uncertainty, and options for measuring the environmental impact of public infrastructure investment within the appraisal process. The Common Appraisal Framework for Transport Projects and Programmes (CAF) sets outs guidance for the appraisal of transport infrastructure in Ireland. It ensures scheme options are rigorously assessed, and supports the careful consideration of options before any option is approved. The CAF will be updated to take account of the most relevant and applicable evidence and methodological advances in the sustainable mobility area.

The Department of Transport and its agencies are engaging in various research programmes in the area of sustainable mobility and climate with increased funding of research and a dedicated climate research function established within the department, as well as agencies’ engagement with academia and industry. There is therefore now a need to develop a transport research network which brings together those entities involved in commissioning and conducting research to strategically determine priorities to support this Policy and optimise funding accordingly. This will

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