The burning issue which is preoccupying the public, and in particular, the one and a quarter million people living in the greater Dublin region, is traffic. Despite the best efforts of successive Governments and the comprehensive Dublin Transportation Initiative, the public's perception, based on experience, is that matters are getting worse, not better.
If there were a Top Ten for traffic blackspots, the Firhouse roundabout would have gone platinum months ago.
At the moment, our traffic management strategies are based entirely on making maximum use of the inbound side of the road in the morning and the outbound side in the evening. We are trying to encourage commuters out of private cars and into public transport which makes more efficient use of the available road space.
But what if we were able to make more use of the entire road space, morning and evening? What if we were able to shift a modest amount of that inbound morning traffic to the outbound lane? The key to such a shift might well lie in encouraging major office employers to relocate outside the general city centre area. And the key to such re-locations might lie in the creative use of tax incentives.
In his forthcoming Budget, is there anything that the Minister for Finance can do to ease the congestion? I believe that in their pre-Budget submission, the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies in Ireland (CCAB-I) may have come up with an idea which merits serious consideration.
The accountancy bodies have suggested that a tax deduction be given for capital expenditure incurred by landlords/tenants/owner-occupiers who relocate from a city centre office, and whose previous offices are refurbished for residential use. The benefits, particularly in Dublin city, could be significant when transport savings are taken into account. This recommendation could also be revenue neutral when the additional tax revenues from new construction are included. To encourage the refurbishment of these office buildings, an owner-occupier allowance should also be available to the purchasers of the now residential accommodation.
There are significant areas of Dublin which are dominated by offices, but which, not very long ago, were residential. Proposals which encourage people to live in the city, but work outside it and relieve the current stress of commuting, should receive a favourable response.
Other tax incentives could be used to encourage the shift to public transport - for example, to stimulate private sector investment in the provision of park and ride facilities, or other essential transport infrastructure. Tax relief for those buying annual commuter tickets would provide an incentive to leave the car at home.
A significant number of city centre employees are public sector workers. Perhaps it is time that the Government itself looked again at its decentralisation programme, which seems to have ground to a halt in recent times. Many of the public servants who were not inclined to move out of Dublin before this may well have had a change of heart, and the prospects of fighting rush hour traffic in a rural town might now be very appealing.
Could some major Government departments take a lead in facilitating teleworking from home? With modern technology, many office jobs can be carried out just as easily at home.
There is a danger that a certain fatalism is creeping into our attitude to the traffic problem. More and more of us are becoming resigned to spending two to three hours every day, commuting relatively short distances. Many of the major infrastructural projects proposed in the DTI strategy are seriously behind schedule. At the same time, we have seen the level of travel demand increase at more than double the rate originally predicted. In the case of the morning peak, traffic is now close to the levels projected for 2011!
A recent conference in Dublin made much of the link between traffic congestion and health, particularly the effect of inhaling exhaust fumes for long periods, and the stress associated in commuting these days. No wonder we are getting fatalistic.
Tax incentives have been used in the past to make things happen which would not otherwise happen. Remember the sites now occupied by the IFSC and Temple Bar before creative incentives were put in place to encourage their redevelopment? Compare the Irish film industry now to its state 10 years ago. Surely helping the chronic traffic problem is a worthy cause for using tax incentives.
Each year the Minister for Finance will receive special pleadings from various interest groups coming up to Budget time. He and his officials will often combine all of these, and tell us that if all these hard cases were conceded, then the cost to the Exchequer would be unsustainable. And of course they are right. Choices have to be made; priorities have to be set.
Tackling the traffic problem must be a major priority for the Government, and it should be looking across all departments to see what initiatives can help. The best efforts of current transport strategies are simply not going to be enough. We know that now. The cliche "things will get worse before they get better" now rings true about the traffic congestion. The gap between current policies and demand is growing. New and imaginative ideas are needed. We have shown before the ability to use tax incentives creatively.
I hope the Minister will not miss this opportunity.
Pierce Kent is president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
