Press Release: Environment   22 September 2006

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Dún Laoghaire, Environment, Justice and Latest Press Releases

22 September 2006

Greens reclaim corner of College Green to mark Car Free Day

– Lack of any official participation is typical of Government's neglect of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users

On European Car Free Day, as 1,278 cities across the world – including London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid and Stockholm– underwent temporary pedestrianisation, the Green Party attacked the Irish Government's complete lack of vision and ambition to provide quality public transport. 

Green Party Environment spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD said: "Our light-hearted 'grassing over' of a corner of College Green today is aimed at highlighting the Government's and Dublin City Council's failure to return city centre space to the people.
 

"College Green should be one of Europe's great civic plazas. Instead we have four lanes choked with traffic. Air pollution is rising  and you can't hear yourself speak on most city streets due to traffic noise. Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) levels in Dublin and other urban areas are close to breaching air quality standards. 

"It is outrageous that Dublinis not taking part in Car Free Day this year. Dublin's token participation in European Mobility Week seems to be limited to a few walking tours. It is symptomatic of the Irish authorities' failure to embrace this important initiative that one of the few events taking place is a walking tour of St. Mary's graveyard in Donnybrook. 

"Car Free Day has been cancelled because we do not have a public transport alternative to the car. That is a profound indictment of this Government's woeful approach to transport planning." 

Green Party Transport spokesperson Eamon Ryan TD added: "The Government parties have utterly failed the people of Dublin in the development of our public transport system. They cannot agree on what type of bus service to give us and, as a result, bus patronage is actually dropping. They have built a port tunnel but trucks will still be allowed pass through the city centre. They built two Luas lines but never joined them together."
 

The Greens in Government will fast-track three projects that would dramatically improve the transport system in Dublin City centre: 

 - A radical traffic calming scheme, with 30kmph speed limits, 'access only' restrictions, and greater pedestrian areas and pedestrian crossing times;

 - A strategic reorganisation of all bus routes carried out by the transport regulator;

 - The building of a North-South Luas link from St Stephens Green to O'Connell Street and via Parnell Square and the old Broadstone line to Finglas, and a new East-West Luas line running from Lucan to Ringsend.