Laois Offaly row over Noddy jibe at Greens

A Laois Offaly TD and Minister have crossed swords over the Green Party's plans for transport with their proposals being criticised as for assuming that rural Ireland can be turned into "a version of Noddy’s Toy Village".

Independent TD Carol Nolan launched the scathing attack at the Greens in particular its leader and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan. However, his cabinet ministeral colleague and Laois Offaly-based senator Pippa Hacket dismissed the attack as 'scaremongering' and insisted that the Government is delivering.

In her statement, Dep Nolan claimed Minister Ryan's proposals bear no relation to life in rural Ireland or the wishes of most people. It was issued as Minister Ryan set out how Government’s climate measures can be achieved, including measures to limit the use of private cars and massively increased congestion charges:

Dep Nolan said: “There are many people in rural Ireland who have just had enough of the Greens and their incessant demand that rural life and rural transport needs should reflect a bewilderingly detached Green Party vision of how they should get-around, how they should work, and how they should travel.

“In fact, it seems to me that most of the time this Government is operating on the assumption that rural Ireland can be turned into a version of Noddy’s Toy Village where one little car or a few vans can get around everywhere and that that should be enough. It is utterly patronising, and it must stop.”

“Rural Ireland has been calling for greater levels of regional and local transport since Moses’ was a baby; but yet time and time again we see the vast majority of capital expenditure being directed toward light rail systems such as the Luas or the Dublin Metro Link. Meanwhile, rural councils and local authorities struggle to achieve the required funding for road repairs, never mind new roads such as the Mountmellick bypass.

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“It is time the adults took charge of transport policy in this country. We cannot go on trying to reconfigure travel options that are disproportionately punitive to people in rural Ireland; people who need their car and will go on needing their cars for many years to come,” she said.

Minister for State Hacket rejected the comments.

"Recently in Tullamore, Minister Ryan launched a plan for 67 new enhanced rural bus routes across rural Ireland. I was at cabinet today and there were no detached or deluded policy initiatives. The aim of the Green Party in Government is to deliver an enhanced rural transport network that offers people more choice and greater service.

"The recent announcement in Offaly is proof of this. Delivering on this aim is my focus, not scaremongering," she said.