Mr. Joe Herron:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for the opportunity to speak. I will be brief.

It would appear to us that when any member of Dublin City Council speaks about the congestion at College Green, he or she seems to be of the opinion that the simple solution is to ban taxis and buses from the area. We believe this means that those who want to go east or west are not considered. There also are a considerable number of hotels and many other businesses that need to be accessed by taxis in the area on both sides of College Green.

It is grossly unfair to expect people using taxis to pay extra in both time and taxi fares to make a large diversion to get from, say, O'Connell Street to Dame Street or vice versa. They might try removing the buses from the area and allow taxis use it, as they are the only door-to-door service, and see how that would work. That is all I would have to say on the matter but I will certainly take any questions afterwards.