45126-Invest. Qual-No111

Ireland’s Long Run Social Development and Vulnerabilitylower modal share of passenger travel. In Ireland, the car’s modalshare of passenger kilometres is estimated to have risen from 83.4per cent in 1987 to 86.6 per cent in 1996; by contrast, the modalshares of buses and rail were 9.9 per cent and 3.4 per centrespectively in 1987 and 9.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent in 1996(Goodbody, 2000: Table 3.1).To some extent, the problems of traffic congestion are an inevitableresult of the economic boom. More people in employment andhigher disposable incomes mean that more people are able topurchase a car and use their cars more often. Vehicle numbers andGDP are very closely correlated. However, transport problems arenot purely the result of economic growth. The dispersed pattern ofhousing development in Ireland requires high car dependence. Inparticular the sprawling nature of housing around (and often at agreat distance from) the Dublin area has contributed to cardependence and traffic congestion. At present, there is a high levelof public investment under way in public transport. However,significant challenges remain in this area. Investment in publictransport needs to be complemented with land use planning thatfacilitates the use of public transport.2.2.8 The Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentEnvironmental sustainability is a key dimension of the Council’svision for a successful society. It is widely accepted that a citizen’squality of life is directly affected by the environment in which he orshe resides—both in positive and negative terms. Equally, thequality of the environment and economic progress are inter-linkedand interdependent. The Council’s 1999 Strategy stressed the needto maintain the quality of the natural environment in line witheconomic progress, stating that rapid growth that degraded theenvironment or left a significant portion of the population inpoverty would not represent sound policy or a sustainable outcome.However, a number of factors, including those outlined in Sections2.2.1 and 2.2.7 above, have combined to increase demands andpressures on the environment in recent years. Statistics from the89