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Transport Minister Eamon Ryan TD: Sustainable transport
Minister Eamon Ryan TD: Four pillars of sustainable transport
With the transport sector accounting for 20 per cent of CO2 emissions in Ireland, it is vital to ensure that the sector experiences fundamental change if Ireland is to reach its net zero commitments, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan TD highlights, calling it an “unprecedented challenge but one we cannot ignore”.
Transitioning Ireland’s transport system comes with the advantage of reducing the country’s dependence on imported oil and gas, the Minister outlines, adding: “Ireland, as one of the most import-dependent countries in the world of fossil fuels, has to make that key switch towards renewable-powered vehicles.”
The Government’s plan to solve the housing crisis is a significant factor in reimagining Ireland’s transport network. He explains that the plan to do this requires more balanced regional development, guided by the National Planning Framework, which will lead to further investment in the greater Dublin area, as well as a sharp increase in investment in Cork, Galway, Waterford, and Limerick, with compact development in the smaller cities, as well as rural areas, key to achieving this. “Compact development is something that is going to require the leadership of the Department of Transport, in what we are calling ‘transport-led development’, where you provide the public with transport infrastructure, particularly in advance of any new housing development,” he asserts.
This will require the Government to give “key indicators to local authorities” to ensure the sustainability of the transport modes around any new housing developments, whilst advocating that new housing should be built “closely to the centre of existing settlements” in order to reduce costs in electricity, water treatments, and reliance on private cars as a mode of transport.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan TD
Changing Ireland’s transport network
Advocating a “radical change” in the transport network, Minister Ryan outlines four pillars.
First pillar
The first change is a switch away from petroleum products, and towards electricity and biofuels for private vehicles, as well as for the haulage and freight system.
“Whether it is through hydrogen, electric, biofuels, compressed air, or any other means which may evolve and develop, one thing is clear, we need to switch away from combustible fuels.
“It is increasingly clear that the European Union is likely to put a deadline, probably around 2035, where there will be no new combustion engine vehicles produced. We will switch to electric; it is happening,” he says.
With it being “clear” that “electric vehicles are going to be the dominant mode”, Minister Ryan promotes this prospect as a means of ensuring Ireland’s energy security, and points to his department’s order of 120 electric-powered buses as a beacon for the future.
Second pillar
Shifting reliance away from private car-based transport modes, and towards increased use of public transport and active travel are a crucial component of Minister Ryan’s radical plan for the transport system.
Whilst acknowledging that “it will be a difficult switch to make”, the Minister explains that it is necessary as “the development patterns that we have allowed to take place over the last four or five decades very much tends towards a private car dominated system”.
As part of this shift, Minister Ryan says that there will be “significant ramping up” of rail-based solutions like the Metro in Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford, as well as an increase in the “similarly critical” BusConnects projects in each of the cities. As a model for increasing the use of active travel, the Minister points to the Netherlands and Denmark as “countries with similar climates, economies, and of similar size”, which can be emulated.
“If we can follow the path that they have taken in terms of safer spaces for people to walk and cycle, we will see a response in Ireland with similar levels of active travel participation.”
Third pillar
Minister Ryan cites the need to reduce the volume of transport as the most important switch to be made as, in spite of any switch in fuel or infrastructure which may take place, Ireland will not meet its climate targets without a reduction in the volume of transport, thus necessitating a “more economical and efficient system”.
To achieve this, the Minister reiterates the 15-minute city and town concept, whereby all housing is situated within 15 minutes walking distance from the centre of a settlement, with the intention of reducing commutes.
The Minister further outlines that remote working should become a more regular feature for Irish workers. “If we can reverse volume of travel, and adopt remote working patterns in a way that works for everyone, then we can make transport more sustainable,” he insists.
Fourth pillar
Increasing shared transport is the fourth and final prong to Ryan’s plan, with the Minister explaining: “If we can develop alternate systems; car sharing, scooters or bicycles, I think there are new opportunities with the rising viability of electric transport alternatives to meet our transport needs.”
Concluding with reference to the National Climate Stakeholders Forum, the Minister says: “We present work in an open and transparent way, and hopefully to inspire others to go for it, particularly in the local authorities, which is where I think the transport revolution is going to have to take place.”
ESRI: Up to 15,000 healthcare staff needed by 2035
A report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has projected that the HSE may need to recruit a further 15,000 staff by 2035 in acute hospitals in order to cope with population growth, an increasing elderly population, and the implementation of the Government’s Sláintecare programme.
The report, entitled Projections of Workforce Requirements for Public Acute Hospitals in Ireland, 2019–2035, further explains that the HSE will require the recruitment of minimum 12,418 extra staff, 3,236 extra medical staff, 8,868 nursing and midwifery staff and 3,277 healthcare assistants.
The population of the State is expected to increase to around 5.4 million by 2035, with the over-85 population expected to almost double in that timeframe.
The study has taken into account factors such as the Government’s Sláintecare programme, as well as changing age demographics and an ever-increasing population as the main factors which mean that more jobs and increased and sustained investments will be necessary in order to provide an adequate healthcare system in Ireland.
It has further outlined the challenges based on demographics, and has outlined different workforce models that could be utilised by the HSE, who funded the report.
Keeping healthcare staff in Ireland
The report emphasises the challenges of ensuring a properly resourced health service, citing an OECD report from 2019 which stated that Ireland’s number of doctors per head of the population was the sixth lowest in the European Union.
Additionally, the number of nurses per head of population, whilst above the EU average, has been decreasing consistently over the last 10 years.
Despite having the highest number of medical graduates per capita in the EU, Ireland’s healthcare system remains increasingly reliant on foreign staff to adequately staff the HSE. Incentivising qualified medical professionals to stay and work in Ireland is outlined at one of the key challenges to be overcome in order to meet the sharp increase in demand of healthcare staff.
Furthermore, almost half, 44 per cent, of foreign healthcare staff are based in Dublin, thus furthering the squeeze on healthcare staff throughout the State.
The report continues: “Internationally, workforce demand modelling can vary significantly in terms of its sophistication, ranging from models that consider how population growth alone may affect workforce demand to models that explicitly account for changing workforce delivery and care utilisation patterns.”
Changing demographics
The Republic’s population is expected to increase by around 500,000 people by
2035. The report makes upper and lower scale estimates that the State’s population by 2035 could be anywhere between 5.3 million and 5.8 million people.
The report further states: “The projections show the importance of international migration in determining the future path of the population figures.”
The population is becoming increasingly concentrated around Dublin and, as a consequence, the surrounding counties of Kildare, Meath, and Wicklow. In accommodating these demands, the report recommends a higher level of sustained investment and for a large bulk of the necessary job creation to happen in this part of the country.
The report projects that the population density of the western rural counties, such as Roscommon, Donegal, and Leitrim, are expected to remain relatively low compared with the eastern counties. It does not state how this will be accommodated.
Changing workforce model
The report outlines that the ‘silo’ workforce model relies on a traditional and potentially outdated model that relies on the consistency of differing healthcare needs based on age- and gender-specific requirements which cannot be relied upon as consistently going forward.
As one of the options, the report outlines the adoption of a multi-professional integrated approach which has been pursued in most of the world throughout the last decade.
“The National Strategic Framework for Health and Social Care Workforce Planning identifies the need for workforce planning to be aligned to current and future population health needs, but there is also clear recognition that workforce planning needs to also capture advances in strategy and policy.”
Immediate challenges
The report concludes by reiterating that population growth and a growing elderly demographic will be the key drivers in how health policy is formulated in the short to medium term, and that the implementation of Sláintecare will require these factors to be taken into account.
“The whole time equivalent requirements for all workforce categories considered are projected to increase substantially by 2035. These increases are largely driven by increases in the underlying population and, in particular, changes in the age structure. Percentage increases are projected to be relatively higher for HSCPs [health and social care professions], given the concentration of activity in the older age categories.”
Regional variation in projected requirements is also observed, with relatively higher increases in Eastern regions again largely driven by population change. Projected workforce requirements can be sensitive to assumptions in relation to grade- and skill-mix.
