Mar is eol don Tánaiste is cathair álainn dhátheangach í cathair na Gaillimhe atá ar thairseach na Gaeltachta is mó sa tír. Tá stádas mar Phríomhchathair Chultúir na hEorpa bainte amach aici. Tá réimse leathan ócáidí leagtha amach don bhliain sin agus tá an t-uafás airgid poiblí geallta nó, ar ndóigh, caite chun an stádas sin a chur chun críche. It has, of course, two third level institutions embedded within the life of the city and a world class tech cluster. I mention only some of the positive advantages, many of which are outlined in the national planning framework, which I will come to shortly.

Notwithstanding that it is a vibrant, beautiful and bilingual city, one I am very proud of and want to see develop, it faces the most acute challenges in regard to the housing crisis, affordable and public housing and the lack of student accommodation, together with serious traffic congestion, as a direct result of the failure to build housing and the lack of planning. I draw this matter to the attention of the Tánaiste. I am glad he is here because I also drew this to his attention on 17 January of this year when I pointed out that Galway not alone faces these challenges but there is no master plan. The Tánaiste surprised me on that occasion by telling me that while he often disagrees with me, he agreed with virtually everything I said and he did not believe in leaving things to the vagaries of the market. Since then, the national planning framework has been published and, notwithstanding any problems around its publicity, it uses the terms "sustainable development" and "regional development", and refers to the development of five cities in particular, including Galway.

To focus on sustainable development, there is no reason Galway should have the problems it has and which have become chronic. We have any amount of public land at the docks, at Ceannt Station, on the Dyke Road and at the airport, but we have no master plan. The framework development plan the Government has published states that the five cities, including Galway, will grow by 50% and that most of that development will have to be within the footprint of the city. Almost six months after I first asked him, I ask the Tánaiste again to please take a hands-on approach in regard to Galway. We need a master plan for the common good, not for the developer. As we speak, parts of the docks and parts of Ceannt Station are being developed and other land is sitting idle, while we have a serious housing crisis.

In addition to housing, practically every day in this Chamber we hear about climate change, on which Ireland was ranked second last in Europe in the latest report. We hear the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport talk about taking cars off the road. It is time to look at light rail for Galway. Some 22,000 people signed a petition that I was in charge of in Galway over an eight-week period. They are way ahead of us with regard to sustainable solutions and in their realisation that we have to do something to reduce carbon emissions.

To conclude, my question is whether we will have a master plan and, included within that, at least a study in regard to light rail.

I do not disagree with the Deputy on those calls, although we sometimes disagree on policy. I know she has raised social housing concerns in Galway over and over again, understandably so, given there are huge pressures in that regard in Galway city. There are currently ten local authority construction schemes in the pipeline which will deliver 365 units when completed - I can name them if the Deputy wants. However, that is not really what she is asking today, to be fair. She is asking where is the overarching plan for what the city will look like in ten and 20 years' time.

I have taken a strong interest in my own city in terms of what it will look like then. We are talking about light rail. We have a very clear picture of where new housing will be built and where the higher density, higher buildings will be built. We are trying to build a collective vision across parties for how Cork city, for example, will facilitate an extra 120,000 people in the next two decades, and not simply by extending boundaries. Project Ireland 2040 is very clear in terms of its plan for existing cities outside of Dublin. We want a 50% population growth target and, while we do not want the cities to be limited by that, it is the target. We want plans from local authorities that can deliver this in a sustainable way and that can focus on quality of life issues and work-life balance. We want to ensure that climate change and emissions management are a big part of that in terms of public transport delivery, which is why we are committing to spend hundreds of millions of euro on much smarter BusConnects systems and also light rail, where appropriate.

The onus is on local decision making. The people who understand Galway best have to come forward with the detailed plans. What will happen now is that there will be regional plans to set the guidelines for planning the projects contained in Project Ireland 2040. However, the actual detail of that within individual cities has to come from those cities and the local governance structures within them.

I appreciate the Tánaiste's positive comments. However, Galway's population is destined to grow from 80,000 to 120,000. With regard to development within the footprint of the city, the Tánaiste would have to accept that allowing that to happen without a master plan for the common good is simply madness.

I appreciate the Government's commitments on climate change and the reduction of carbon emissions, although it is not meeting them. However, in Galway we are planning another road with more cars that the city cannot cope with in the foreseeable future. We need to look at an alternative model. Light rail would fit in to the idea of intensive development within the city but that will not happen without a push from the Government. I was there when we looked at an outer bypass that went nowhere but down a cul-de-sac. That was difficult enough to watch but, at the same time, there was no commitment to sustainable transport. In 2005 we put park and ride in the city development plan, and I had the privilege of being mayor when that happened. We fought tooth and nail to put it in against management, who thought it was premature. As a result of their view that it was premature, we still do not have park and ride in 2018 and there is serious traffic congestion.

More roads is not the answer. We need a master plan and to consider light rail. I do not believe Cork asked for light rail yet it will be considered, whereas Galway has been begging for it through its people. More than 22,000 people from a population of just under 80,000 have asked for light rail.

I believe Galway does need some new roads. There is a ring road system around Galway city that needs to be completed to provide the kind of free-flowing traffic movements that are necessary. Traffic congestion in Galway city is a significant issue and a significant problem in terms of future growth and investment. That being said, I believe we will see a much bigger emphasis in urban environments on public transport provision and higher density, but also higher quality of residential property. That is what needs to happen.

Of course, this needs to happen under an overall city development plan. The Deputy can call it a master plan or a county and city development plan - whatever she wants to call it. Ultimately, however, the whole point of having a national planning framework is that planning in the future is not development-led but is plan-led in terms of trying to socially engineer, if one likes, how and where people live in the interests of the environment and quality of life. The idea that we have tens of thousands of people travelling into Dublin from more than an hour away every morning and making the same journey back in the evening is an example of the kind of planning we do not want to see in the future. Galway has an opportunity to give leadership on that, as do the other cities. I hope they will take that opportunity.