Go raibh maith agat arís, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I raise the car parks the motorways into Dublin have become, especially the M7 and N7.

Hear, hear.

I am clear in my support for increased public transport for Kildare South, but we know this extra capacity will take years. Commuters on the M7 and N7 cannot wait that long. Since I first raised this, I have been inundated with messages from commuters across Leinster and north Munster. Thousands of people are spending their lives stuck in daily traffic for up to three hours as they try to get to work. They are leaving their family homes at 6 a.m. to barely make it into work for 9 a.m. It is not just workers who are affected. People are missing critical medical appointments like chemotherapy because of these delays. Cancer patients are telling me they are having to pull over to the side of the road because they are so unwell and cannot make their appointments. Can this House imagine what it is like to be undergoing cancer treatment and be trapped in traffic for hours on end?

The problems for commuters are because of the pressure and availability of housing, the lack of timely and fit-for-purpose public transport, a Government flexible working policy that is simply not fit for purpose and an inadequate response to minor accidents and breakdowns compounded by driver frustration and education and a lack of transport gardaí on our roads. Last week, I called for Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Minister for Transport to set up an emergency response unit for the N7, M7 and other major motorways that are experiencing massive traffic delays. This is already in place on the M50. It is, of course, not a silver bullet but it would allow for better responses to minor road traffic incidents and would help prevent traffic coming to a standstill at rush hour.

Many people in rural Ireland south of the capital cannot get a public bus or train because there are too few options. For many the times of public transport will not allow them to get to work on time. In many parts of rural Ireland, people have no choice but to use their cars to get to work. Where public transport does exist, people are crammed onto trains and are ringing their public representatives to say the bus did not show up. In Kildare South, I am fighting for an hourly train service along the Waterford to Heuston line. This would make a massive difference to people living in Athy, Carlow, Kilkenny and other places along the line. The first train from my hometown of Athy is at 6.41 a.m., with many commuters failing to get to work for 8 a.m. and having to revert to their cars.

The Government’s code of practice on flexible and hybrid working is not working. The call back to the office and the workplace is a problem highlighted by many commuters who have contacted me over recent days. The Government needs to legislate for a real right to flexible and hybrid working. Will it launch a new Operation Freeflow and instruct Transport Infrastructure Ireland to provide an emergency response to accidents and breakdowns on the car park that is the N7 and M7 to reduce the congestion for so many commuters?

I thank Deputy Wall very much for raising this issue. The N7-M7 corridor is, of course, a critical part of Ireland’s national road and motorway network. I will get to some of the challenges, but there has been significant investment in recent decades, most recently the completion of a major upgrade to the motorway between Naas and Newbridge in 2021, which also included a bypass for Sallins. The Deputy is also right that since 2019, traffic levels on the M50 have grown by at least 11%, which equates to about an extra 50,000 trips per day. We are seeing the impact of that congestion on our road and motorway network. The Deputy was also right to highlight the fact there are real-life impacts from this. He gave the very harrowing reality of a cancer patient stuck in traffic trying to get to a crucial hospital appointment. I can think of the impact for people trying to get to an from childcare providers and meet school collection times. That is stress, as well as, of course, the environmental impact of being stuck in congestion and the impact that can have on air quality. We are very much aware of the congestion. I am aware of the regular accidents on the route and the safety issues as well. We intend, through our national development plan, to invest a huge amount in transport via upgrades to the road network but also to address the points Deputy Wall made on making public transport work more effectively for more people who wish to use it, once it works for them.

The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, will shortly outline the sectoral investment plan, which is basically the outworking of the new national development plan funding in terms of the advancement of projects. I will ask the Minister to take on board the comments Deputy Wall has made here today and the constructive suggestion he has made in relation to TII and what more it might be able to do.

The Deputy has rather cleverly and appropriately linked this to the debate and discussion on the development of policy with regard to remote working. As he will remember, we gave a commitment that there would be full public consultation in relation to the policy on remote working. A lot of good work has been done in this area. I am informed that there are now more than 400 connected hubs. Indeed, I opened a remote working hub in my own hometown very recently. The roll-out of our national broadband plan, which was opposed by many but which has worked and been delivered on time and on budget, has made a real difference in giving people that crucial infrastructure to work remotely. Only on Tuesday of this week, my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, launched a public consultation as part of a legislative review of the right to request remote working. I inquired as to how that review was going the other day and was told that over 2,000 people had already made submissions. That is quite incredible. Roughly 1,600 of those 2,000 responses came from workers while around 400 came from employers. I encourage the Deputy and everybody else to make their views known. We will consider what legislative steps to take, what to review and what amendments to make to legislation on the back of that public consultation.

The Tánaiste said my comment was clever and deliberate but it is the reality. The commuters who are coming to me are asking for remote work and flexible working. There is a public consultation. I believe the closing date is 9 December. We need that discussion and we need new legislation.

However, I am today asking the Tánaiste for a new Operation Freeflow for the M7 and the N7 because that is what is needed for the thousands of people who are trapped there every day. Will the Government commit to additional signage and to deploying additional gardaí on the road to assist with the flow of traffic? Will the Tánaiste commit to hourly trains to Dublin as part of the Government's housing plan, through which it plans to build thousands of much-needed homes in the commuter belt? Will consideration be given to the use of hard shoulders for public transport? Many issues are being raised with me. TII needs to act. We cannot continue with the way things are. Productivity is down and the mental health of commuters and those travelling into Dublin is affected every day. It is simply not good enough. I ask the Tánaiste to revert to the Minister for Transport and TII as quickly as possible. This is urgent.

I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to take on board all of those sensible suggestions. I will ask him to come back directly to the Deputy and to engage with TII and the NTA with regard to Operation Freeflow, signage, gardaí and the frequency of the trains. I join with Deputy Wall in encouraging people to make their views known on the consultation on remote working. We should remind ourselves that remote working at scale in Ireland arose very quickly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The pace at which people, employers, public services and, to some degree, education changed their work practices was huge. However, if we are honest, it was also somewhat unplanned. There was a global pandemic and people were trying to keep the show on the road. We then legislated for the right to request remote working arrangements. That came into force for all employees on 6 March 2024. This was a big step forward in terms of entitlements and having a legislative framework for the first time. It is right and proper that we now consider it. If we get remote working right, it will result in huge opportunities, including the opportunity to expand access to the labour force and to address issues of congestion. However, we must also get it right as regards supporting our economy and making sure our public services work in the way our constituents expect. This consultation is an opportunity for everyone to have their say.