Sir, – The worsening traffic congestion around the country is becoming impossible to ignore.
While frustration is often directed at individual drivers, the reality is that all road users – whether motorists, bus passengers, cyclists or pedestrians – are suffering from a system that is creaking under the weight of inadequate infrastructure and poor planning.
The slow rollout of Metro, Luas and BusConnects has left public transport struggling to provide a viable alternative to private car use. At the same time, the sheer volume of cars being added to our roads each year is staggering.
Where is the transparency on the net addition of vehicles – new sales minus those decommissioned? My suspicion is that the number of cars taken off the road is minimal, meaning our already overstretched network is absorbing thousands of extra vehicles annually without any meaningful mitigation.
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Meanwhile, car companies continue to advertise new vehicles against the backdrop of traffic-free streets and open roads. This is misleading at best. It paints a picture of motoring freedom that bears no resemblance to the daily gridlock experienced by commuters across the country.
If we are serious about prioritising mass transit, then difficult questions must be asked. Should taxis continue to occupy bus lanes, slowing down services designed to move large numbers of people efficiently?
Surely exceptions could be made for strategically important routes, such as to and from the airport, while freeing up bus corridors elsewhere to deliver faster, more reliable journeys for the majority.
This is not about demonising drivers or any one group of road users. It is about recognising that the current trajectory is unsustainable, and that empathy for all – those stuck behind the wheel, those waiting endlessly at bus stops, and those breathing the polluted air – demands urgent action. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN McGOVERN,
Donnybrook,
Dublin.
Sir, – As a daily commuter travelling from Dublin 3 to west Dublin every day I take issue with Dublin Bus’s suggestion of a congestion charge (“Dublin traffic is slower than London,” December 13th). Traffic currently feels like it did in 2007. There is no other option but the car due to a lack of investment in good public transport.
As a teacher there is no being late for work or working from home, going through town is the most reliable option; the expense of the M50 isn’t viable twice a day, quite aside from the fact that despite having paid the toll it is completely unreliable.
In the 20 minutes (if I am lucky) it takes to get to it, anything could happen to the traffic, and you are then stuck with that choice and its consequences.
Public transport is also not an option, to get the train to work for an 8:35am class I have to leave at 6:30am and get a bus and a walk or a bus and Luas to the train. The train from my local train station at a 20-minute walk away will only get me in for 9:20. Furthermore, to get the train west, it doesn’t stop at the train station local to my school so I have to go into Celbridge, have a 12-minute wait and then get the train back. While having left far earlier, I am in work no earlier than if I were in the car.
Having gotten two buses to a work night out close to work recently, it was an hour and 50 minute journey at peak travelling time, when there should be lots of options – this is not viable twice a day.
On a recent trip to Heuston Station, a distance of 3.7km, it took an hour to get there from home on public transport with the reality of the timetable very different from that of the app. I had to vary my route when this happened, luckily I had given myself ample time.
There has been a marked increase in the traffic since the wholesale changes in the bus timetable in October – the commute has gone from about 50 minutes on an average day to over an hour each morning.
Perhaps this needs more scrutiny. The most obvious thing is that public transport has been sorely neglected over decades, needing greater improvement and as much money as possible put into it.
There also needs to be an acknowledgement that not everyone can live, work and use services just in their neighbourhood. The reality is they can’t always walk everywhere or cycle but the thinking seems strongly resistant to that this is the case.
If public transport is reliable, fast and cheap, people will use it and leave their cars at home. Who wouldn’t want to read a book or have a doomscroll if it was a viable option instead of being stressed out sitting in their cars? – Yours, etc,
NIAMH BYRNE,
Fairview,
Dublin 3.
A vicious circle for housing
Sir, – Cantillon (December 11th) highlighted the vicious housing circle involving high rents, unaffordable prices, insufficient supply and spiralling demand.
The best way to get out of this closed loop is to break it totally and start again on a different track. To this end, the Government should initiate a legislation-driven national housing emergency and directly lead large-scale housing development.
Simultaneously, it should tackle house prices on the grounds that it is pointless to build more homes which purchasers and renters cannot afford without massive State subsidies, which in turn fuel higher prices and more taxes.
To finance its build programme, the Government could tap into unproductive household savings plus “rainy day” funds to create a massive, say ¤30 billion, fund, for housing.
This would be used to attract major overseas utility, infrastructure and home builders to undertake turnkey developments at scale using their resources, modern construction methods and possibly involving the creation of new towns on specially zoned greenfield sites adjacent to transport links, etc.
They would work alongside existing construction actors which are seen as being very resource-limited.
Price containment could be achieved by raising property taxes on underused assets, addressing “common good” and “common detriment” constitutional issues impacting planning. The Government could use compulsory purchase orders on derelict sites, and block foreign home purchases.
The Government could also examine house prices/costs and generally demand better value.
Clearly these ideas would not sit well with some vested interests and could be disruptive in the short term. However, only by taking radical action now, can Ireland hope to avoid a major disorderly housing crash when non-affordability ratios hit the moon, and prices and rents are forced down to align better with earnings.
From a political perspective, current policies are simply fuelling Cantillion’s “vicious circle” and dramatic action now might, just might, ensure some visible progress by the next election. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Treading water
Sir, – So Uisce Éireann announced that next week, they will submit plans for Ireland’s largest ever water project in Irish history.
If planning permission is granted, they propose to begin construction in 2028, with completion within five years – 2033 – and at a cost of almost €5 billion.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the project as “an imperative”. He also said “housing depends on this, and if we don’t have the water infrastructure, we don’t get housing”.
He said the country needed to be ambitious about the development of major infrastructure projects.
I believe the whole country would share his view.
Unfortunately, judging by the length of time this idea has taken to get to planning stage from when it was first debated in the Seanad in 2007 to hopeful completion in 2033, and at a cost of almost €5 billion – €3 billion more than when first mooted – it must be depressing for the country that successive governments have dragged their heels in implementing legislation in time to allow this project to proceed much sooner.
As a famous Irish footballer would’ve said,”that’s their job”. But “they” just didn’t do it. And, to link this project with housing is nonsense.
I don’t believe the Taoiseach chose his words carefully on this issue. – Yours, etc,
PAT O’REILLY,
Co Cork.
Occupied Territories Bill
Sir, – In an interview reported last Friday, Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne stated that the Government’s version of the Occupied Territories Bill would ban trade in goods from illegal Israeli settlements, but not the indubitably more significant trade in services (“Occupied Territories Bill strictly limited to goods, says Minister”, December 12th).
Accentuating the obvious, Mr Byrne remarked that when enacted – though he declined to give a timeline for this – it would be “an extremely limited measure”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin subsequently opined that the inclusion of services would have a “damaging impact on Ireland” and he made it plain that he finds the Occupied Territories Bill to be a nuisance. In his view, it wouldn’t “have any consequential impact on Israel”.
Needless to say, he has not counterposed any alternative and more effective sanctions.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to clarify whether this is now the official position of the Government. Has it been decided definitively to exclude services and in effect scuttle the Bill because of pressure from the US? Judging by Mr Martin’s comments, the motivation appears to be primarily political and economic, and not centred on legal advice.
The Occupied Territories Bill was always a constricted measure and should never be understood as anything other than a modest first step towards imposing purposeful sanctions on Israel.
However, the exclusion of services from the Bill would hugely reduce its impact, while satisfying no one. Undoubtedly, the Netanyahu government and various right-wing US politicians will still loudly denounce it as “anti-Semitic”, even if it is rendered useless for practical purposes.
Mr Martin is almost certainly aware of this, which is why it would not be entirely surprising at this stage if the Bill is never enacted while he is Taoiseach.
Indeed, there are worrying signs across Europe that the so-called “ceasefire” in Gaza is likely to be used much as the “peace process” was for decades, as an excuse for taking no impactful action against Israel, despite the continuous breaches of human rights and international law.
The Government here needs to develop some backbone and enact the Occupied Territories Bill in full. Opinion polls have repeatedly indicated that the Irish public would support such a move. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Foreign ‘criminals’
Sir, – The Minister for Justice, Jim O‘Callaghan, speaking at a meeting of the Council of Europe is reported to have aligned himself with Denmark in its case to restrict Article 3 of the Convention of Human Rights and Migration which Denmark claims allows “foreign criminals” to escape deportation (“European court stance limits Ireland’s ability to deport criminals, O’Callaghan says,” December 11th).
What is most alarming are his comments criticising the independence of the judiciary of the European Court of Human Rights whose judgments he claims are limiting the ability of member states to deport these “foreign criminals” .
The use of the words “foreign criminals” in the context of migration is grist to the mill to racist and anti-immigration groups who consistently describe all seekers of asylum as “foreign criminals”.
Can the Minister give figures of the amount of these “foreign criminals” in Ireland that his Government cannot deport for human rights reasons? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Dublin 9.
Drone embarrassment
Sir, – As an Irish person, it is embarrassing to think that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy might have been safer staying in Kyiv than flying into Dublin (“Air traffic not warned of drones as Zelenskiy landed,” December 12th).
This is a damning indictment of our traditional cavalier attitude to defence spending, and the naive belief by many that neutrality excuses us from such essential expenditure. – Yours, etc,
RONNIE SIMPSON,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Bill to ban fox hunting
Sir, – On Wednesday, Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger’s Animal Health & Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill returns to Dáil Éireann and our legislators will make a choice between cruelty and compassion.
Their decisions will decide the fate of the beloved red fox who will either be finally free from perennial persecution or continue to endure bloodsport brutality.
Members of the Dáil have been informed that, far from being an agricultural pest, foxes are in fact friends of farmers. By keeping the numbers of rodents and rabbits in check, they perform an important role in the countryside and deserve protection.
Before voting, TDs ought to reflect on the awful suffering inflicted on foxes who are forced to run for their lives for miles ahead of packs of blood-thirsty dogs.
When caught, they are bitten, mauled, eviscerated and torn apart. Foxes who desperately dash underground to try to hide from hounds are dug out and killed.
Successive opinion polls leave no doubt that there is an overwhelming desire to see this barbarism banished. The latest survey by Ireland Thinks shows that 87 per cent are opposed to the hunting of animals for sport, with 81 per cent of respondents who expressed an opinion agreeing that fox hunting should be banned.
Parties and politicians must act on the wishes of the majority and support Deputy Coppinger’s Bill. – Yours, etc,
PHILIP KIERNAN,
Irish Council Against Blood Sports,
Co Westmeath.
Mystery solved
Sir, – I enjoyed the letter of Gary Honer (December 10th) concerning the disappearance of the culchies.
Living in Cavan and married to a Dub for about 60 years I’m a proud culchie and welcome Gary into the brotherhood, as he refers to his old status as “us Dubs”.
The reason that the roads were quiet as he travelled south to his new abode in Waterford is that we culchies now have our own shopping centres. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT SHARPE,
Co Cavan.
Protecting travellers
Sir, – On Friday week ago I travelled from Dublin to Belfast on the Enterprise. The train was full but I got one of the last seats.
The lady sitting next to me was on a video call and for 30 minutes carried on a very loud conversation.
What was most concerning was her continuous coughing, stopping only to sip water as lubricant. Almost two weeks on, I am sitting on the bed trying to fight a stream of phlegm and mucus. I feel so tired.
If I had produced a cigarette or a vape or alcohol, I would have been ejected from the train.
Surely there must be a way to protect travellers? – Yours, etc,
GERRY McCANN,
Belfast.
