David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I tabled legislation twice in this regard and it is listed on the Order Paper for Christmas weekend this year.

However, I would like to raise a question about the Luas. Anybody walking through the city of Dublin can see the extraordinary disruption and mayhem that is being caused. As many others and I predicted over the past 20 years, the construction of an on-street tram network has created catastrophic conflict with the other traffic coming into the city. That is the reason for pushing it into side streets and pedestrianising College Green. It is an absolute mess and it will be infested with electronic lines to run the trams and so on. They have a completely half-assed approach to the whole thing and I use that phrase deliberately because I was down Marlborough Street a week or so ago where there were decent men working. I said, "I see you are doing half of one side of the pavement. When are you doing the other half?" They replied they were not. Half a footpath on one side of a street where Luas tracks are being laid is being repaired and nothing is being done on the other side. Parnell Street is an absolute disaster. One is taking one's life in one's hands if one walks down Parnell Street given how uneven and broken is the pavement. They are doing half the pavement on only one side as well. This is appalling in the centre of a capital city.

We should try to have a proper, joined-up approach. Vienna was at the stage we are at now in respect of developing a light tram system in the centre of the city. In 1974, they conducted a review and on expert advice, they pulled it. The city has many trams but they all run on the outskirts of the city. The central core of the city is reserved for underground rail. The city architect of Vienna said exactly what I said about the electrical lines for the trams creating a visual obstruction. He said that this is a beautiful city and tourists have not come here to see a spaghetti of electric lights. I hope we can have a debate on transport in Dublin, particularly an underground option. We need to think again. We have the tram, which we cannot unravel now, but we should have an underground system. Dublin is the only capital city in the EU that does not have one.