Dublin City Council chief spurns commuter, environmental and health groups opposed to watering down of transport plan

Dublin City Council chief executive Richard Shakespeare has rejected a request to meet environmental, commuter and health organisations seeking the “full and on-time” implementation of the Dublin City Centre Transport plan.

The group, which includes the Irish Heart Foundation, the Dublin Commuter Coalition, An Taisce, Irish Doctors for the Environment, the Jesuit centre for faith and justice and a number of cycling campaign bodies, sought an emergency meeting with Mr Shakespeare following changes to the plan announced in recent days.

The plan, when it was published last year, included 24-hour “bus gates” on Bachelors Walk and Aston Quay restricting passage to public transport only.

[ Richard Shakespeare: ‘If I can help climate efforts by making it a little more difficult for motorists, well then that’s what I’ll do’ ]

Dublin City Councillors were last Monday told the restrictions were being reduced, and would only apply 7am-7pm daily. Although private motorists would not be permitted to drive directly east and west along the Liffey Quays at O’Connell Bridge, only a 50m section of Aston Quay would be inaccessible to cars.

In a letter to Mr Shakespeare on Thursday, the civil society organisations requested a meeting to discuss concerns over potential delays and the changes, which they felt would reduce the effectiveness of the measures.

On Friday afternoon council staff contacted Jason Cullen, who chairs the Dublin Commuter Coalition to confirm Mr Shakespeare was “not available to meet at this time” but that the group’s letter “will be brought to Mr Shakespeare’s attention”.

Mr Cullen said it was “very disappointing” to the hear Mr Shakespeare had decided not to meet the group.

“That Mr Shakespeare would have the time to meet a private lobby group, whose sole purpose for being established was to stop the College Green Plaza progressing and has since opposed any improvement to public transport, and he doesn’t have time to meet the leading group campaigning for public transport, is a clear conflict,” Mr Cullen said.

He noted that the traders’ alliance, when it made a submission on the plan last year, had not mentioned the need for a study of its economic impact. The group would continue to press for a meeting with Mr Shakespeare, he said. “We will be continuing on our campaign to get a meeting to get this project put in place on time.”