I’m putting links to radio and television interviews on this post.
Discussion on RTE’s Tonight with Vincent Browne in February 2006 in relation to the Strategic Infrastructure Bill.

Discussion on NEAR FM’s Between the Lines in January 2007 in relation to policing in Northern Ireland.

The Party’s Transport Policy was launched recently.  It is a strong and comprehensive document.  Some of the interesting points:

• The Baldoyle to Ballymun light rail/metro link is included (along with other light rail lines in Dublin Cork and Galway).
• Climate change is a core concern of the policy.
• There is a detailed cycling section which draws heavily from the work of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and
• The policy recognises the induced traffic phenomenon, which means that building roads to reduce congestion fails.

The policy is here (pdf format)

The Environment Department of the Council has commissioned a study into Burrow Beach because of recent erosion of the dunes and the beach. (http://www.fingalcoco.ie/minutes/meeting_doc.aspx?id=4256)  The Water Services Department of the Council has been involved in a major study of flooding risks in Dublin.  Erosion is addressed in this only insofar as it affects flooding risks.  There will be a report on this study to the full Council on 12th February.

The coastal walkway/cycleway between Baldoyle and Portmarnock which local people have been campaigning for for decades finally seems to be on the way.
 Motion 28 at yesterday’s meeting:
Councillor D. Healy
"That the Manager report on progress in relation to the coastal walk/cycleway between Baldoyle and Portmarnock."

The report indicated that the study on the Moyne Road was expected by early summer and the coastal route by the end of the year or before.

At yesterday’s Area Cttee, I raised the issue of progress in the light rail element of the multimodal study which the Council directed in September 2007 be carried out for the North Fringe/South Fringe Area. 
My motion: "That the Manager report on progress in relation to the light rail
elements of the transport study for the North Fringe/South Fringe Area."

The officials reported back that they have been in discussions with Dublin City Council and the Railway Procurement Agency, both of which have been positive and cooperative.  They are meeting soon to decide how to fund the study and how to approach the selection of consultants.  Fingal’s officials will come back with a further report as soon as meeting has been held.

Meanwhile there will be some sort of report to the Area Cttee. meeting on 15th in relation to Roads in the area.  I hope there will not be an attempt to go ahead with road planning in the absence of public transport planning!

As I mentioned before, Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus came into our Area Cttee. today.  We got some interesting information, but there was definitely no breakthrough on any major issue.

Iarnród Éireann

•    1. Lack of regular, clock-face Dart Services to Bayside/Sutton/Howth
•    2. Very low Dart frequency in the evenings especially Sunday evenings

No progress on either of these.  The issue is as set out here. 
The only explanation I can come up with is that IE have decided to save
a few euros by having one fewer driver on the evening shift.  The
result from the point of view of a resident of Bayside, Baldoyle,
Sutton or Howth is that planning to get a Dart from town in the evening
is a much less attractive option than it was 20 years ago, with waits
of 40 minutes on weekdays and 1 hour on a Sunday.

•    3. Integrated ticketing between Dart and Bus

Nothing. 
Talk about new systems.  No explanation as to why the existing system
which both DB and IE use at the moment is not used to provide
integrated tickets.

•    4. Blocking of disabled access to Howth Junction Station

Astonishingly IE appeared not to know what I was talking about.  Fortunately, Dublin City Council understands the issue and has put in planning conditions to address it, and Fingal County Council is taking enforcement action as although most of the station is in Fingal’s area, no planning permission has been sought for it.

•    5. Development potential at Howth Junction Station
•    6. Underpass at Bayside Station
•    7. Layout of car parking and access to beach at Howth Station
•    8. Parking enforcement at bus stop on Howth Station forecourt
•    9. Online timetable failing to show connections which can be made at Howth Junction.

Dublin Bus

•    1. 31C service waiting on the road outside Howth Dart Station
  blocking views of the pedestrian traffic lights and of crossing
  pedestrians

Issue not resolved.  This significant traffic hazard remains.

•    2. Routing of buses on Howth Peninsula – potential to extend
  the 17A to travel along Kilbarrack Road through Sutton Cross, over
  Howth Summit to Howth Dart Station.(with extra buses on the route of
  course) instead of the 31B.

Because only Clontarf Garage (31s) and not Harristown (17A) was represented at the meeting we couldn’t get any update on this.

There are some planned changes to the buses in the area.  All are
awaiting approval from the Department of Transport, many for long
periods of time.  There is no formal input from Councillors.

The 29A will extend along Grange Rd to a new terminus in Abbey Park. 
When this happens, the 32B will no longer go into Abbey Park, but
travel straight through to Portmarnock.

There will be a new route 128 from the area of the new train station
(near Fr. Collins’ Park) to Donaghmede Roundabout, Clare Hall and down
Malahide Rd to Rathmines, 14/15 buses – 10 minutes all day.

The Summary for Policymakers of the report, “Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis”, the first volume of “Climate Change 2007”, will be released on 2nd February.  The press conference will be broadcast live on the web.

Extracts from the press release:

"The report assesses the current scientific knowledge of the natural and human
drivers of climate change, observed changes in climate, the ability of
science to attribute changes to different causes, and projections for
future climate change.

"The Report includes significantly advanced observations of the climate
system, presents new projections of future global climate change using
results from 19 climate models, all with improved representations of
physics, chemistry, and spatial resolution. The report also covers the
range of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and other factors that drive
climate change. There will also be a Chapter assessing the
paleoclimatic perspective.

"The WGI report does not cover the impacts of climate change or options
for the mitigation of climate change. These aspects will be covered in
subsequent reports by Working Group II (impacts, adaptation and
vulnerability), and Working Group III (mitigation options) to be
finalised respectively in early April and early May this year In
addition a Synthesis Report covering key findings of all three Working
Groups will be released in late 2007."

The press conference will be broadcast here.

Construction work is starting for the new sewer which will take sewage
from Howth and Sutton to Sutton pumping station.  When finished this
will end the discharge of raw sewage from the nose of Howth.

There will be inevitable disruption during construction, but no work will be allowed on Harbour Road during the summer.

Details of the work are available here, including a large pdf map which explains the project.

Some further relevant details are as follows:

• There will be no work east of Howth Dart Station between 1st May and 31st September.
• Working hours are 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday.
• The road will be reinstated every evening and at weekends.

Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus are coming to our Area Committee today.
I will be raising the following issues.  Unfortunately, unlike most
European countries, control of public transport is completely centralised in Ireland.  Local authorities have no power over public
transport, so our influence is limited.  I have submitted the following issues to be responded to.
Iarnród Éireann

1. Lack of regular, clock-face Dart Services to Bayside/Sutton/Howth
2. Very low Dart frequency in the evenings especially Sunday evenings
3. Integrated ticketing between Dart and Bus
4. Blocking of disabled access to Howth Junction Station
5. Development potential at Howth Junction Station
6. Underpass at Bayside Station
7. Layout of car parking and access to beach at Howth Station
8. Parking enforcement at bus stop on Howth Station forecourt
9. Online timetable failing to show connections which can be made at Howth Junction.

Dublin Bus

1. 31C service waiting on the road outside Howth Dart Station blocking views of the pedestrian traffic lights and of crossing pedestrians
2. Routing of buses on Howth Peninsula – potential to extend the 17A to travel along Kilbarrack Road through Sutton Cross, over Howth Summit to Howth Dart Station.(with extra buses on the route of course) instead of the 31B.

  One-hour gaps between Dart trains to Bayside, Sutton and Howth.

In 1984 there were 6 morning peak-hour departures from Howth (at 0800, 0810, 0825, 0836, 0850 and 0900), compared to 3 trains (0759, 0820 and 0845) over the same period today.  Malahide has 2 Darts and 1 railcar in the same hour, so there is a net reduction in the total number of Dart trains leaving.  There may be a justification that there is a signalling capacity constraint during peak times.

There is no such justification for the lack of evening services:

Sunday evening from City Centre to Howth in 1984 – 10 trains: 2034, 2054, 2119, 2134, 2154, 2214, 2234, 2254, 2314, 2334

Sunday evening from City Centre to Howth in 2007 – 5 trains: 2027, 2110, 2210, 2310, 2350

Maybe the 5 missing Darts are going to Malahide? No, there are only 3 departures to Malahide over this time period: 2040, 2140 and 2240.  

This reduction in services was introduced in 2006 and has been repeated in the 2007 timetable despite strong protests from passengers.

The Greens believe public transport must be maintained as a convenient frequent service throughout the day and in the evenings.  This decline in the Dart service must be reversed.  Trains, trams and buses must be integrated into a single efficient and convenient network.  Public transport is a top priority for Greens in Dublin.