If Fine Gael favours slowing down investment in cycling infrastructure or stymieing better public transport, it should make that clear to voters
Anyone forced to commute across Dublin on a regular basis will be all too aware of the appalling congestion which bedevils the city. Data from in-car navigation systems and smartphones in 387 cities across the world ranks Dublin as the worst for time lost in traffic jams. That is a shameful failure of good government, with drastic consequences for the environment, climate, productivity and public health.
The crisis – and it is a crisis – demands urgent remedies. Chief among these is accelerating the switch from private motoring to public transport and active travel . That will of course inconvenience some, while others will argue that the alternatives are too slow and unreliable. But increased investment in buses, trams and trains will be wasted if the streets remain clogged with private cars.
These simple realities have been accepted by Dublin City Council, as well as by the current Government, which has embedded them in policies at national level. It is regrettable, therefore, to see senior members of one Government party indulging in populist posturing that directly contradicts them. First it was Fine Gael candidate Regina Doherty’s absurd comparison of new cycle lanes with the Berlin Wall.
Simon Harris and his colleagues would do well to reflect on whether it is wise to indulge in shallow signalling of this sort. If Fine Gael actually favours slowing down investment in cycling infrastructure or stymieing better public transport, the party’s candidates for Dublin City Council should have made that clear to voters before they went to the polls last month.
Dublin-City-Council Emer-Higgins Regina-Doherty Simon-Harris
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