Dublin City’s proposed mobility plan “vital for return to work” – Green councillors

Dublin City’s Green Party councillors have broadly welcomed the city council’s ambitious Interim Mobility Intervention Programme. The plan includes significant changes to the city centre and for the urban villages around the city, primarily focused on widening footpaths, improving bus priority, and expanding protected cycling infrastructure.

Stop motor traffic through Phoenix Park, say local Greens

Press release: Motor traffic going through the Phoenix Park should be stopped, according to local Green Party representatives today (Thursday). The elected representatives are calling on the OPW to prevent private motor traffic from using the park as a thoroughfare, instead only allowing access to park facilities, institutions, and existing parking spaces, which would accommodate …

Why the Kilmainham hotel plan is a bad one

Planning observation: Developers have applied for planning permission for a new hotel in Kearn’s Place, just off Old Kilmainham. The site should be developed for housing, which is permitted in the zoning. This proposal seems like a mad idea. Update: The planning permission was rejected by Dublin City Council, which the developers appealed. An Bord …

How we should legalise e-scooters – but not for rent!

Submission: The government recently launched a public consultation on how they should regulate electric scooters – which are currently illegal. The Greens have been calling for legalisation and regulation for some time. Here’s what I sent in to the consultation. (“PPTs” is short for “Personal Powered Transport”, which is seemingly the preferred transport policy term …

Speech: why local property tax cut benefits the rich – and virtually no one else

Dublin City Council can vary the local property tax rate every year, by 15% up or down. Every year they’ve had this power, they have voted to lower it by the maximum amount. I think that’s a bad idea, as it cuts funds for public services and gives thousands to well-off people and very little …

Dublin needs a supervised injection facility: my submission to An Bord Pleanála

Planning observation: Dublin City Council rejected a planning application by a charity to open up a supervised injection facility (SIF) on Merchant’s Quay – the heart of Dublin city centre’s drug problem. I think the Council got it wrong: a SIF could reduce overdoses, deaths, needle littering, and public injecting. It’s a humane, decent response …