Seanad debates

Wednesday, 14 February 2018

10:30 am

Photo of David NorrisDavid Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I call for a debate on transport. People often say, "I hate to say I told you told so". I want to say "I told you so" today. I campaigned for nearly 30 years for an underground railway system in Dublin. I got the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald to do the mathematics. Senator Leyden is nodding; he was here for that debate and contributed to it. Dr. FitzGerald demonstrated that it was impossible for a surface tram to carry the required number of passengers because neither the length nor the frequency of the tram could be increased because of the traffic congestion. Now Councillor Ciarán Cuffe says taxis must be removed from sections of Dublin and another councillor says buses must be removed in order to facilitate the tram.According to a report in The Irish Times:

Mr Cuffe was speaking after a new 55-metre Luas tram was forced to stop on the 45-metre O’Connell Bridge on Thursday. The tram stopped with its rear carriage protruding across a yellow box junction between O’Connell Bridge and the south quays.

The incident led to massive traffic jams all over Dublin. The trams were also full and could not take any more people. The trams flew past people in stations located all over suburban Dublin and left people absolutely stranded.

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