60,000 Clontarf route traffic diversion leaflets distributed says city council, but some residents say they didn’t get one

Dublin City Council has said it used An Post’s service to distribute 56,000 leaflets covering the details of the Clontarf to City Centre Cycle and Bus Priority Project to residents and businesses, and also provided 4,000 to a mix of community centres, public buildings, and politicians

After it was claimed online that leaflets were not received in some areas, IrishCycle.com asked the city council to confirm what areas were leafleted and how many leaflets were sent to each area ahead of the detours that started on August 8.

“We delivered 56,000 leaflets via An Post,” said Susan Fitzsimons at the council’s Active Travel Programme Office.

“The distribution service took a full two weeks starting of the 25^th of July, with the final leaflets delivered on the 5^th of August by An Post Publicity Post. Please see details below of how many to each area.”

She added: “We also sent C2CC Project Information Leaflets to Public Buildings & Representatives. We have distributed just over 60,000 leaflets in total.”

The council also issued a press release in July warning in advance of the detours, installed electric warning signs weeks in advance, and, closer to the time, promoted the warning on social media (as per the example above).

But residents who contacted IrishCycle.com said that they did not receive the latest leaflet with details of the southbound diversion for motorists on North Strand Road for the construction of the project.

In an article titled ‘Clontarf route: Unofficial Q&A‘, this website originally said: “Houses and businesses around the project were also leafleted, but a common issue is that some people just bin any leaflets as junk mail without looking at them, and, of course, the leafleters might have missed some places.”

IrishCycle.com cannot establish how wide of an issue it is but a number of residents have said that they did not receive the leaflets with details of the diversion.

In response to the unofficial Q&A article, one resident said: “We did not receive a leaflet and look at everything that comes through the door. No one else on the roads nearby seems to have received a leaflet.”

He said: “The leaflet did not explain that the no-right-turns were being removed, and it was not explained in the media or FAQ. I tweeted the council several times, and got no reply and no contact number was given on web site. Only found out on Saturday by asking on-site engineer.”

Another resident in the same area off North Strand Road said they had received a leaflet earlier in the year, but not the one relating to the traffic detours which are due to last over a year.

When IrishCycle.com followed this up to ask on Twitter to see if other residents had received a leaflet or not, only three people responded — one had and two had not, one who lives in Clontarf and another who lives near Fairview Park.

Again, it’s not clear the extent of the issue, but going by the reaction — both online and to media outlets, not just the people who contacted IrishCycle.com but others too — it seems residents around North Strand were less likely to have heard about the detours than people in areas further north. That may have less to do with leaflets and more to do with the placement of electric signs or other factors.

The council provided the following breakdown of how many leaflets per area via An Post: