In the latest on the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan, a protest has been called for tomorrow (Saturday) at Brown Thomas department store at 2pm; the Climate and Health Alliance have added their weight to the groups which say the plan should go ahead; and criticism of lobby group’s report mounts.
The plan includes giving more priority and space to walking, cycling, and public transport by reducing through traffic in the city centre while continuing to allow car access.
It focuses on the core city centre, where it is estimated that 60% of motorists do not stop for shopping or recreation. It includes bus gates on the quays at O’Connell Bridge where car users amount to 2% of people in the area.
The protest tomorrow is being called by the Dublin Commuter Coalition, the Irish Doctors for the Environment, the Dublin Cycling Campaign, the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Access for All Ireland, I Bike Dublin, and An Taisce.
Asked why the protest is to happen outside the department store, Jason Cullen, chairperson of the Dublin Commuter Coalition, said: “Brown Thomas are one of the most prominent businesses in the city who are vocally opposing the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan, as part of the Dublin Traders Alliance.”
He added: “We will be holding a demonstration on Saturday 13th at 2pm outside their premises on Grafton Street, calling on them to reverse their position, to free Dublin from its constant congestion and make the city a much nicer place for people to live, visit, and work in.”
After criticism from a leading transport academic today and a transport campaign group last night, the report commissioned by Dublin City Centre Traders Alliance has come in for further criticism.
Barra Roantree, an assistant professor and director of the MSc in Economic Policy at the Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, wrote in TheJournal.ie that: “If this analysis were submitted as an undergraduate dissertation to the university I teach in, I would fail it. It shouldn’t have any role in informing the debate around the Dublin City Transport Plan.”
Meanwhile, the Climate and Health Alliance has written to Dublin City Council chief executive Richard Shakespeare, outlining that recent business and political intervention to delay the plan is “extremely worrying.”
In a letter to Shakespeare, Dr Sean Owens, chairperson of the Climate and Health Alliance, said: “In the midst of an evolving climate emergency that will have a disastrous impact on the health of all our citizens and the healthcare system, delay has the same net result as denialism.”
Members of the Climate and Health Alliance include the Irish Heart Foundation, the Irish Cancer Society, the Irish Doctors for the Environment, the Irish College of General Practitioners, the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists, the Asthma Society of Ireland, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, School of Public Health at the University College Dublin, the National Children’s Hospital Ireland, the Irish Gerontological Society, the Association for Health Promotion Ireland, the Irish Medical Organisation, Bohemians Football Club, the Irish Cycling Campaign, the HSE, the Psychological Society of Ireland and St Patricks Mental Health Services.
Owens said: “The Climate and Health Alliance views active travel plans such as the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan as de facto health policies. To realise the health opportunities within improvements in our built environment, it is imperative that this plan be implemented in full and without delay.”
“Our urban environment has been steadily designed towards private car use to the detriment of human health. Pollution from fossil fuels causes multiple health issues, including asthma, cancer, heart disease and premature death,” he said.
He said: “We must re-imagine our urban spaces by prioritising accessible walking, wheeling, cycling, and public transport in favour of private car use, where accessible and affordable. Toxic air pollution, sedentary behaviours secondary to our built environment, and dangerous infrastructure for those walking, wheeling, taking public transport and cycling are leading to poor health outcomes for our citizens.”
Dublin and all our urban areas have the opportunity to become rich, healthy, sustainable communities if we prioritise active travel. Active travel improves both physical and mental health and will lead to lower healthcare costs in the long term. The Dublin City Transport Plan can be the start of that.
He added: “The Climate and Health Alliance is calling on Dublin City Council to implement this plan, in full, without delay and continue to advocate for further plans that put active travel first and create sustainable communities for the sake of human and planetary health.”