Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps not. My concern is that, as we have seen in the likes of College Green, when you start putting in conditions like that, you sometimes weaken the real benefits that come from proper traffic management design.

This is a matter for local authorities. The city manager and, I would argue, the council, have to have a central role. Going back to what I said, we will not tell every county what to do down to street level, because that will not work, so it has to be city-led. To my understanding, the council and the public consultation in this case could not have been clearer. There was overwhelming support for the sort of measures that are being proposed. I believe we should proceed. We have been dogged by decades of delay in Dublin. Anytime we have put in restrictions, such as no right turn at the bottom of George's Street, no left turn at the bottom of Dawson Street, or pedestrianising Grafton Street or Henry Street, we have never regretted it. Change will not be easy here. Change is difficult. I have listened to the likes of Louis Copeland on Capel Street, who I know well, and others. I fully understand his concerns about how we protect retail business in the centre. There is a wider issue. The corrupt planning of Dublin and the corrupt planning of the motorway system brought all the life out onto a ring road and has undermined our city centre. We are dealing with the legacy of that. That does not mean we should not apply the best modern traffic management thinking to the city.

We have to make sure that we provide for accessibility for people with accessibility needs. First and foremost, that means improving the public transport system because many people with accessibility issues cannot drive. If we get the bus system to work and make it safer to walk and cycle, that improves it first and foremost for those who cannot drive. The real risk here is that we might dilute some of the schemes to meet certain immediate concerns, which you have to listen to but which would undo the fundamental benefit that accessibility groups will gain when there is a public transport system that works. These traffic management measures in Dublin are needed to get our bus system working. The same would apply in Cork and Limerick. This morning, there were many problems with our bus network in Cork. Deputy O'Rourke would know there is a similar issue with the buses turning up in Navan. Part of it is that they are stuck in traffic. Buses which have to get through Dublin city centre and back out to Navan or other towns will benefit when we prioritise and provide them with real fast conditions. That is what we need to do. That benefits people with access issues more than anyone else.