Sir, - I welcome any comments from my former colleague on Dublin City Council, Ms Sadhbh O'Neill, on Dublin's transport situation (January 15th), but I must take issue with some of her points about the implications of an Eastern Bypass.
Ms O'Neill's objection to the proposal to reinstate the bypass into the city's development plan appears to be based on the belief that the project would represent financial mismanagement, would marginalise our public transport system, and would be bad for local communities and urban wildlife.
This Government has approached the current transport situation in Dublin on three main fronts; traffic management, public transport and an improved road network.
The basic blocks of a comprehensive city-wide road network are barely in existence, and it is imperative that we focus on these three ways of developing the existing system to alleviate traffic congestion in the city centre and surrounding region. The construction of an orbital road network in Dublin is, I believe, an integral part of the effort to improve access to these areas.
With regard to Ms O'Neill's opinion that this Government is neglecting to acknowledge and address the problems faced by public transport users, may I draw her attention to some of the measures it has undertaken?
The introduction of quality bus corridors throughout the city, 150 new buses and a major traffic management programme, together with a full commitment to implementation of Luas, are not the sort of measures undertaken by a Government which is, in Ms O'Neill's words, "unsympathetic to the plight of public transport users".
I wish also to clarify that the £500 million motorway tunnel would not, as claimed by Ms O'Neill in her letter, be bored "through residential communities". The tunnel would run underground, and thus would not represent disruption to local residents. - Yours, etc., Eoin Ryan, TD,
Vavasour Square, Sandymount, Dublin 4.