Kilkenny conference a must for planners, transport providers and rural groups

Ireland needs to adopt a revolutionary approach to the provision of public transport, particularly in rural areas, one of Ireland’s most trusted and respected economists says.

Our state urgently needs to invest in rural transport, otherwise our car dependency culture will only increase and environmental targets will never be met, Jim Power says. He made his comments ahead of the second international iRoute conference in Kilkenny on May 5 which he chairs.

“More balanced regional economic growth, the revitalisation of rural towns and villages and the sustaining of life and vibrancy in rural Ireland have allegedly featured strongly on the national policy agenda for some time. But the strong aspirational words are not being followed up with concrete actions.

“The provision of high quality broadband is obviously essential, but much more is needed. Digital hubs in towns around the country are being heralded, and rightly so, but more joined up thinking is required.

“To bring social and economic vibrancy to rural communities, having adequate and reliable public transport is essential. To live in rural Ireland, having a car is essential to socialise, to shop and to go to work. As well as imposing higher costs of living on rural dwellers, it also flies in the face of Ireland’s so-called environmental agenda.

“The car culture needs to be addressed in urban and rural settings. While public transport in urban areas is still inadequate in most cases, no attempt is even being made in rural Ireland. This has disastrous economic, environmental and social consequences.

“On a cost-benefit basis, which has to include economic, social and environmental metrics; the State must invest in adequate public transport in rural areas. In the absence of such investment, remote working will not work; the car culture will continue to undermine environmental objectives, and continue the process of denuding rural areas of young people, and social and economic vibrancy,” Mr Power warned.

iRoute in Kilkenny’s Newpark Hotel on May 5 brings together national and international contributors from a variety of backgrounds, including transport providers, academic experts, funders, community groups, local development companies and public representatives. All  have a singular aim – putting rural public transport policy in the spotlight.

Speaking ahead of the conference, internationally-renowned Transport Expert, Brendan Finn, said: “There is a world of difference between being able to travel one day a week on a rural link service and being able to travel as required. Yet developing a new Rural Transport Policy is item 100 on the government’s top 100 priorities list.

“The Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan only fills in the blanks. There is no policy to back it up. Almost every European country lacks a comprehensive policy for rural mobility. There are no clear goals, no specific targets, no clear responsibilities and insufficient funding to meet growing needs.

“We need clarity in terms of what the role of the public, the private and community sector is in rural connectivity, who should lead it, who is responsible for it and where the money will come from. Rural mobility and accessibility policy is as important as rural  broadband and it needs to be made a priority now.

“Joined up thinking would ensure that thriving, inclusive rural communities across Ireland and across the continent can make a real contribution to the economic growth and social progress of Europe as a whole.”

Large urban hubs get the lion’s share of investment, yet rural Ireland is often neglected, according to Declan Rice, conference organiser and CEO with Kilkenny LEADER Partnership. And while the government announced €57 million for the Local Link transport service across 15 separate communities in October of last year, there is no joined up thinking or integrated plan, he said.

“A fundamental lack of joined up policy means that local authorities and communities are all doing their own thing. This policy gap cannot continue. We need top-down frameworks such as they have in Flanders, which facilitates, and makes room for the inclusion in that framework, of bottom-up community-led local initiatives.

“Local bespoke solutions that meet at least a basic level of service and have the capacity to grow need to be supported. We have all the building blocks, some of what we require is the use of information and communication technology that has already been proven to work in other parts of the world.  It’s not going to take a huge amount of money – just some joined up effort.

“If we are serious about creating so-called ‘Smart Villages’ and communities we just need to get the integration planning discussion going and make it work. Ireland has a unique opportunity to lead the way and to show how the future should look for rural shared mobility planning,” Mr Rice concluded.

·       Early bird booking is open now on https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ iroute-2-conference-kilkenny- tickets-166805392419