City Council asks ‘Irish Times’ to correct misinformation on Sandymount cycle route trial

— Councillor taking case in High Court gets core detail of project wrong.

Dublin City Council has asked for The Irish Times to correct misinformation on the Strand Road cycle route trial contained in a video interview published on IrishTimes.com.

The proposed trial is aimed to made Strand Road in Sandymount one-way to made space for a two-way cycle path as part of the city’s COVID-19 mobility measures.

The video was published yesterday (Saturday) as a stand-alone video and also attached to three articles published last month on the project. At the time of publication of this article, after midnight on Sunday morning, the video was still published without correction.

In The Irish Times video, Cllr Mannix Flynn (independent) said: “What’s being proposed here basically is that on Strand Road there will be a line of traffic coming out of town which will be halted and that there be a contra-flow cycle lane temporary put in place. What would happen then is that all of that traffic will come into this [Sandymount] village and basically destroy this village.”

This is misinformation because the southbound lane on Strand Road is planned to remain open for the cycle route trial which is delayed subject to High Court action by Cllr Mannix Flynn and STC, a group set up to object to the trial cycle route. It is the northbound lane on Strand Road which is planned to be closed if the Court allows the trial to go ahead.

This is also viewed to be key because if the southbound lane was closed it would be more likely the traffic would divert via Sandymount Village as the northern access is less restrictive compared to the southern access which has turning restrictions and short left turning lanes toward the village.

Audio overlaid onto a different part of The Irish Times video has Cllr Flynn claiming the objection was “not about a well-to-do area” and that the trial is “appalling”. He adds that the measures are planned “without any consultation” despite a 6 month process of consultation before the council started work on the project.

A statement from Dublin City Council said: “In the Irish times video article of Saturday the 13th of March Councillor Mannix Flynn wrongly states that the Strand Road cycleway proposal is to halt a line of traffic coming out of town and divert it into Sandymount Village for a contraflow cycle lane.”

“Dublin City Council wishes to state that the Strand Road Cycle Trial does not halt any traffic coming out of town along Strand Road as the Southbound traffic lane is still left in place. Therefore the outbound traffic will not be diverted via Sandymount Village and we would ask that this be corrected,” it said.

The council added: “The proposal is to undertake a six month trial of a two cycle safe protected cycle route along Strand Road by removing the Northbound traffic lane, there are multiple traffic routes that this traffic could use instead which do not involve diverting via Sandymount village.”

The High Court case is being brought by Peter Carvill, representing the Serpentine Avenue, Tritonville and Claremont Roads (STC) group, and Cllr Mannix Flynn, who is a councillor in a neighbouring area and is a serial objector to cycle routes. A judge has granted a stay — a temporary legal block — on all works related to Dublin City Council’s Strand Road cycle path trial in Sandymount. The High Court is expected to hear the judicial review proceedings in the case on April 27.


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