Dublin’s pedestrianisation plans “are not being reassessed”, says council

Dublin pedestrianisation plans are not being reassessed generally, according to Dublin City Council, although access by taxis to the planned College Green / Dame Street plaza late at night may be looked at in the detailed design stage.

The Irish Times published an article titled ‘Dublin pedestrianisation plans to be reassessed following city riots‘ and reported that Aebhric Mc Gibney, director of public and international affairs at Dublin Chamber, said: “The debate about the use of public space once it is been pedestrian enhanced or fully pedestrianised is an important one in the context of the riots.”

The Irish Times also reported Brendan O’Brien, head of the council’s transport department, outlining that the council’s “thought process at the moment is potentially at night there will be taxis to pick up people in it.”

IrishCycle.com asked Dublin City Council if could it confirm that the full pedestrianisation of new civic spaces is being reconsidered following the riots or if the council was already looking at flexible use of such space in limited circumstances.

This evening, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: “Private car access to civic spaces is not being considered and pedestrianisation plans are not being reassessed.”

“For any of the pedestrian spaces that are in existence, such as Grafton Street, Henry Street and Capel Street deliveries are allowed into the streets from 06:00 – 11:00 each day and there is no proposal to change any of the existing arrangements,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “The comments attributed to DCC were solely in relation to the future College Green and Dame Street plaza and solely relate to the potential access arrangements for taxis late at night time after midnight and if access should be allowed at those times, these matters are for consideration during the detailed design of the area which has not yet commenced.”