The time is coming soon when motorcars will be all but prohibited from Dublin city centre. Certainly dissuaded. And that is even before the city council bullheads on with its plan for a plaza on Dame Street. I stay away completely from driving into the city now because of the incessant gridlock. Whatever has developed over the past six months, in particular, I have never experienced the likes of before – the congestion has now reached bursting point.
It took me 90 minutes to drive the 6km from Donnybrook to the Convention centre before Christmas.
Some people blame the Luas crossover, which would be an ironic unintended consequence of trying to improve public transport in the city. Others will say that it’s a reflection of the return to close on full employment, which is all fine and dandy. Another ironic unintended consequence for the many shops in and around the city centre is that many will suffer if customers are suffocated out of shopping with them because of the sheer hassle and time involved in getting near there.
Another problem emerging under the radar here in the capital is the dwindling taxi numbers, as hundreds, if not a few thousand drivers have gone back to other jobs post-recession, having taken up taxi driving when they lost their jobs in the bust. What’s left of them, more and more tell me they just avoid the city centre now because of the traffic jams or they just don’t go out during the middle of the day anymore.
Squeezed space
The quays and city centre streets are just not physically able for buses, with cars and Luas lines all squeezing into the same arteries. And yet, of course, in typical Irish one-eyed-planning-ahead style, for those who bow to the council ideal and choose to cycle, the city streets are demonstrably not conducive to safe cycling. How cyclists and buses and lorries and cars and now the Luas and their death trap tracks for cyclists, are expected to harmoniously exist shoehorned into these tight spaces baffles.
Our population has increased by over half a million since the turn of the millennium.
Yet we built houses with no schools and houses where nobody wanted them. We failed to plan for more hospitals and dithered over a children’s hospital which is now being built at a hard-to-reach site. What the hell is it with this country when it comes to foresight, planning and organising efficient and sensible public services?
Anyway, be warned if you are thinking about journeying to the big smoke anytime soon. If your routine is to park in or around O’Connell Street, think again. Instead, think about ditching the car and getting a bus or Luas from the outskirts if you want to avoid raising your stress levels. In time, you will have no choice but to do so anyway, mark my words. CL
2018 is set to see veganism grow as the hip, right-on-fashion statement of the millennial generation. There’s a lot of money coming from somewhere to promote veganism, judging by their massive one-page Sunday newspaper ad I spotted over Christmas. And so their crusade to rid the world of meat eaters by 2100 continues. Good luck with that.
I am sure that 100% of vegans do it for the love of animals, with other reasons regarding health and the environment weighing heavily on their decision too, which is fair enough.
What vegans eat is their business. But that respect should work both ways.
That means desisting from calling meat eaters or leather shoe wearer’s psychopaths and murderers. It’s at that point that vegans lose any scintilla of credibility.
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