Cars valued at or exceeding £40,000 are subject to the Luxury Car Tax (£1600 over 5 years). This should be abolished for EVs as it impedes numerous Government initiatives and targets for transport and emissions. A tax refund should be available for those who paid the tax from at least 2019 onwards. The tax contradicts numerous Government statements about wanting to do more to reduce emissions, improve air quality and push EVs & autonomous driving. Many EVs suitable as replacements for petrol/diesel cars are higher priced by virtue of the large, expensive batteries and advanced manufacturing required, and therefore cannot be cheaply produced. It is hypocritical to punish manufacturers and consumers for buying the same innovative electric cars the Government says they want on the road.

There has been a number of serious and fatal accidents involving vehicles and pedestrians in Macroom town. Acting as a speed table, raised pedestrian crossings, has the added benefit of not only slowing traffic but making it easier to see pedestrians crossing the road. Speed zones where speeds are set at 30 km/h (or 20 mph) as they are found to be effective at reducing crashes increasing pedestrian safety and increasing community cohesion.

Technology in the automotive industry has reached a turning point - access to battery electric vehicles is better than ever and improving constantly. However, the automotive industry continues to profit from the burning of fossil fuels. Only a drastic change such as this, creating the largest market for zero-emissions vehicles in the world, can force them to innovate and compete to bring the cost of this technology down. Exemptions of limited duration should be made only for specialist vehicles.

This is extremely important, we have school kids, College students, Elderly people and people with disabilities either going to school,College,Hospital or doctors appointments and people using the bus to get shopping, 1 an hour is not enough especially at peak times, not to mention at winter time when people are standing in the cold and the rain or snow with no bus shelter and a Bus thats due may or may not turn up, Stepaside is a huge population now and still growing, bus service no longer meets that growing demand.

Our local libraries are an amazing resource. Weekends are a great time to go to study, take your children, and browse around as there is lots to do there. When a bank holiday weekend comes around the local library shuts that preceding Saturday. I have gone to my local library on lots of Saturdays during the year planning to have some quiet study space only to realise as its a bank holiday they are shut! I imagine there are many people out there who have had this experience. This wonderful resource should be open particularly at a bank holiday weekend allowing people access to the wonderful facilities.

In order to favor the implementation of the electric car beneficial for health, government assistance is needed, not only in subsidies to purchase but also in infrastructure. With this measure all gas stations should have a fast charging point for electric cars obligatorily

It looks as if all routes leading to City Centre will suffer a great loss in trees/wildlife.. And Shane Ross, Minister for Transport and the National Transport Authority have been extremely vague on what steps they are willing to take to avoid this! Quite simply, this is not good enough: Dublin you have a choice to make, Dublin you have voice to be heard, Dublin this is your city and your home, Dublin don't just let them do what they want this time! Dublin there must be an ecological balance in progress and the future. DUBLIN IF WE GET THIS WRONG THERE IS NO GOING BACK TO FIX IT.

Clondalkin is over 1,000 years old and is attracting more and more visitors to view its heritage. In this regard the proposed nursing home is wholly inappropriate. The four storey building would block the view of the limestone convent while the proposed brick finish is not at all in keeping with local architecture. In addition an antique stone wall on Convent Rd., would be knocked not to mention the additional traffic that would ensue in an already gridlocked village. Such a development would detrimentally affect the historic character of Clondalkin and should be refused.

Arklow Sinn Féin representative John Kelly and John Brady TD have started a campaign for the construction of a slip road on and off the M11 to the Vale Road in Arklow. Wicklow County Council needs to commission a feasibility study to allow for a funding application to be made to the Department of Transport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Arklow is a fantastic town with massive amounts of potential that needs to be unlocked. Hopefully An Bord Pleanála will be making a decision on the new sewage treatment plant very soon, this will go a long way to unlocking the potential Arklow has, however traffic in the town is still a major problem and it needs to be addressed to ensure that the towns potential can be fully unlocked. Key to addressing the traffic problem would be the construction of a new slip road on and off the N11 to the Vale Road. Currently people travelling to Woodenbridge or Aughrim have to come through Arklow. This is unnecessarily bringing cars into the town and adding to the congestion and lengthy unnecessary journeys for them. It’s really unbelievable that this slip road wasn’t constructed in the 1990’s when the Arklow Bypass was being constructed. There are also a considerable number of new houses under construction on the Vale Road, this will also add to the traffic problem, the most logical thing to address the issue is to construct the new slip road to take cars out of Arklow. This was one of the main proposals in Deputy John Brady’s Unlocking Arklow’s Potential document which he published last year. When the Unlocking Arklow’s Potential document was published the Minister for Transport was contacted and was asked about funding for the construction of the slip road. The Minister informed us that no application for funding has been forthcoming from the local authority for the project and that a feasibility study should first be carried out. For South Wicklow to develop this slip road is critical and we are calling for it to be prioritised. We will continue to push this project as we see it as key to unlocking Arklow’s potential.

Given the grave challenges posed by climate change it's time to embrace more sustainable - and less stressful- approaches to travel than flying. Emissions from flying within Europe increased by 26% in the last five years and Ryanair has gained the dubious distinction of being in the top 10 of European carbon polluters.(1) The industry needs to be regulated and taxed more effectively (1) but all of us also need to fly much much less if we are to have any hope of limiting global warming. Similar to those who support the Swedish campaign Flygfritt 2019 this campaign is asking you to pledge to stop or at least reduce air travel. By signing you are pledging to take meaningful action to reduce or ideally stop your air travel, by for example: - using alternative travel options such as sea/rail for work and personal travel - taking one trip of longer duration rather than multiple short breaks/visits - eliminating all but the most necessary work travel (e.g. using online technology for meetings and conferences) My name is Karen Smith and I teach and research in the area of childhood equality. If we are to deliver any kind of justice to the children of today, let alone the children of tomorrow, we need to drastically reduce emissions, without delay. The window of opportunity is small and I hope that as many of you as possible will take this pledge (1) https://www.transportenvironment.org/news/airline-emissions-growth-out-control

This is because the Finn Valley has a growing elderly population and a reducing number of potential family carers. Also parts of the area have little access to public transport and are quite isolated i.e the border and gaeltacht areas. For over three years the People of the Finn Valley and wider Donegal area have been asking the question about what is the future of St Josephs Community Hospital in Stranorlar, Co. Donegal. The government and HSE representatives have never given a clear answer on the future of the Hospital and have even provided conflicting information. The people of the area have twice held well attended public demonstraions where they marched from the Hospital in Stranorlar to Jacksons Hotel in Ballybofey a distance of 2.6km. Many who marched were over 60 and feel abandoned by the way they are being treated. We wish to know the answer of how many and what types of beds that are planned to be serviced at the hospital. What staffing levels will be retained in future at St Josephs in terms of Doctors, Nurses, Nursing Assistants, Administration and Ancillary staff. We want to know now what Capital Budget and other Budgets will be allocated and the plans that will be transformed into buildings i.e. refurbushements, extensions etc so as to meet HIQA standards.

It is important because I feel the cost and construction of the crossings could have and should have been put to better use. I feel that a one-way system around secondary school would have solved the problem and would have cost less, it is also important because it puts the safety of drivers and school children on the line and since they have been constructed one fatal accident has occurred at the location. Finally, it is important for those with authority to focus on smaller projects which would benefit communities more instead of larger un-necessary projects which cost more money.