John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister will accuse me of whining and whinging if I start off in a particular vein but I have a duty as a public representative to raise issues on behalf of my constituents. We become much more exercised about traffic at Christmas time but this Topical Issue is about traffic congestion all year round and specific issues that the Minister might consider addressing.

At Christmas time, people like to be relaxed but at any given time of the day there is intense traffic and pedestrian movement to and from the city or major shopping centres such as Dundrum shopping centre in the Minister's constituency, The Square in my constituency or in Liffey Valley and Blanchardstown centres as people attempt to do their Christmas shopping and enjoy the festive spirit. There is nothing worse than being stuck in a car or on a bus that is not moving, aggravated by weather conditions. One of the principles behind what was previously known as Operation Freeflow but is now known as Operation Open City is that all road works and so on are curtailed or undertaken during less busy commuting hours. At the entrance to my estate on Scholarstown Road, an area which the Minister previously represented, there is a roundabout at which major works are being carried out. This roundabout is 200 yd. from the M50 and thus there are never ending tailbacks. This work is due to continue until 17 December which means there is no Operation Open City in this area. I would like the Minister to whom I can appeal under Operation Open City to take action in this regard, particularly at this time of the year.

I would like to comment on a couple of issues. The Minister and I have previously engaged in this Chamber on the cost of congestion to the city annually, which is currently €300 million and is expected to increase by 2030 to approximately €2 billion annually.

6 o’clock

Dublin Chamber discovered that one of the matters that frequently cheeses off commuters and deters them from using public transport is the reality that bus journey times are uncompetitive with car journey times.

I travel in a number of ways, be it walking, cycling, driving the car and occasionally on the bus. The bus lanes are not policed adequately. Does the Minister, the NTA or the councils have any plans for this? I realise that it uses up many Garda resources but if they were policed, the benefit would be twofold. A number of bus lanes do not operate on a 24-hour basis but when they are operational, cars simply fill up the space. That habit has been allowed to form because there is a lack of observational police control over it. However, if they were properly policed, many more people would have confidence in using the bus to commute to and from town or other areas. This is one matter in which the Minister could take a particular interest. There are others. We could try to facilitate a number of park-and-ride facilities on the outskirts of the city and in the suburbs by using existing car parks that are not used during office hours.

These are just a few ideas for the Minister and I welcome his feedback on them.

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