Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take the Minister's point. We all accept the principle of the modal shift away from the car towards public transport for appropriate journeys. However, when it comes to shopping and general retail interaction, a car is required by shoppers. The study recommends the shutting down of multi-storey car parks in the city centre, despite that compared with other cities, Dublin has an under-supply of car parking spaces for the retail area. For example, Dublin has 10,000 car parking spaces, the same number as Bristol which is one third the size of Dublin. This puts into context our position from the international perspective.

While I fully accept the necessity to move people away from cars to public transport for appropriate journeys, I believe shutting car parking spaces in the general vicinity of the retail infrastructure of the city will have a long-term negative impact on that business. This will lead to a hollowing out of activity in the city centre. This has happened in cities across the United States and in some parts of Europe. It would be a wrong and regressive step if this study is implemented. I would like to see the Minister take an active role in meeting the business and retail communities to try to ensure we get a more balanced approach.

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