Kilcullen politics student led YFG production of all-Ireland transport document
Communities across Ireland are missing out on the failure to set up an all-island transport authority, according to a politics student from Kilcullen who led the development of a Young Fine Gael policy document on transport, writes Brian Byrne.
The document, by the One Island Committee of YFG, calls for the establishment of such an authority, among a range of other ideas to improve transport options and connectivity for everyone on the island. Setting up such an agency was envisioned in Strand 2 of the Good Friday Agreement, but 25 years on it still hasn't happened.
"We have seen the impact and the success an all-Ireland approach has had in terms of tourism, for instance," says John Healy, Leinster Regional Organiser on the Young Fine Gael National Executive, who led the Committee with joint chairs Jude O'Kane and Pierce Dargan, respectively representing YFG in the North and the South. "We see no reason why an all-island transport equivalent couldn't be implemented immediately — it would benefit everyone on the island, of every community, providing better transport options for all."
Noting that the prospects of a Unity Referendum are increasingly being spoken about by many different groups, John Healy says the transport document is one of a number envisaged to help provide clarity in the event of such a referendum, which he admits could still be a decade or more away. "But unity can only come through planning, not platitudes," he says. "Where others talk about the possibility of a united Ireland, we have yet to see any plan for it. For us in YFG, this is the start of that process."
The document outlines a wide range of mission and policy elements across public transport, including more flexible and integrated ways of providing it, such as proposals that include free park and ride schemes, all-island Leap cards, and subscription-based public transport options. There are sections relating to active travel initiatives, promotion of e-bikes and electric vehicles, the introduction of circular transport loops in the island's major cities, and cross-party agreement on key transport infrastructure over a 10-year period to provide 'much needed' stability and direction in the development of the sector. Clean-air zones in cities, pedestrianisation of high-footfall urban areas after community consultation, and the development of high-speed express railway links between airports and cities are also touched on, and there's a specific call for a new railway link from Letterkenny through Derry to Dublin.
John Healy takes the point that many of the ideas in the document are already on the wish lists of a variety of groups, but says that doesn't lessen its value. "Sometimes ideas can be out there in separate places, but this document brings all of them together to be taken direct to where they can have a real impact. In putting it together we have been very fortunate in having direct access to Government ministers, TDs, councillors, academics, and representatives of the SDLP and Alliance in Northern Ireland. It was written as a collaborate piece."
Currently in his third year studying History & Politics at UCD, John Healy is shortly beginning a 3-month internship in an Oireachtas office and he is also director of elections for Pierce Dargan, local election candidate in Glencullen Sandyford. When not in college, John works in his father Tom’s business Healy Tyres in Naas, and spends most weekends in Kilcullen.
The One Island Transport Document is available to download from the Young Fine Gael website.
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