The Green Party has tabled a private members' Bill aimed at reducing the volume of traffic on Irish roads by 20 per cent by 2010. The Bill, which is certain to be rejected by the Government, would compel the Minister for the Environment, in consultation with the National Roads Authority, to draw up a "national road traffic reduction plan".
The Greens said the plan would first be aimed at stabilising traffic growth, then reducing the volume of cars on the road to 80 per cent of 1997 levels, by developing public transport alternatives.
The party noted there were more than a million registered motor vehicles in the Republic - with 115,000 private cars bought last year alone. More people were also being killed in road accidents - 48 so far this year.
It quoted the Irish Insurance Institute as estimating that each fatality carried an economic cost of £864,000, or a £1.8 billion total for the past five years, while the cost of traffic congestion in Dublin had been put at £500 million a year.
Under the EU-funded transport programme, expenditure on roads was running ahead of public transport by a six to one ratio. The Greens maintained that traffic was now expanding to fill the new road space provided.
Mr Paul Martin, the party's candidate in the Dublin North by-election, said traffic congestion in Dublin was the "classic case" of this phenomenon and he called on the Government to recognise a "fatal flaw in its roads policy".
Mr John Gormley TD (Greens, Dublin South East) said traffic was "one of the most pressing issues of the day" and the Bill outlined a "proactive approach", showing how the Government and the local authorities could address it.
Mr Ciaran Cuffe, the party's transport spokesman, said the Government seemed to be "actively working to frustrate and stymie public transport by performing what seems to be a death dance around the introduction of a Luas system to Dublin".
