Eamon Ryan expects plan to ban cars from parts of Dublin city centre by August

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said: “I think people are going to see a transformation. They will see a transformation this August when we take the through traffic out of the city centre. That is going to make a huge change in Dublin."

A plan to remove cars from parts of Dublin city centre will be in place by August, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said.

Mr Ryan said it is “ridiculous” that the plan to cut both cars and commercial vehicles has taken so long to introduce, pointing to what is happening in other cities around the world.

The Green Party leader also would not rule out introducing extra charges on SUVs to park in cities, following a recent vote in Paris which will triple parking fees for the large vehicles.

“Now we need to actually deliver real big effective change. A lot of the work in the last three years was design work, getting things ready. Now we build,” Mr Ryan said.

“I think people are going to see a transformation. They will see a transformation this August when we take the through traffic out of the city centre. That is going to make a huge change in Dublin."

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As part of the reforms, motorists would be restricted from accessing parts of the north and south quays in the city centre, including turning College Green into a pedestrianised plaza.

“I mean, it’s ridiculous it’s taken so long, stuck in planning the way it has. Look at what is happening in comparative cities, look at what they’ve done in Paris, look at what they’re doing in London. We need to do the same, starting with College Green,” Mr Ryan said.

Charges on cars

Asked about introducing extra parking charges on SUVs, Mr Ryan said that there is a Demand Management Strategy (DMS) due to go to public consultation in the coming weeks. Proposals within the strategy are expected to include removing parking spaces from civil servants.

“It’ll set out a whole range of different options, but there’s nothing planned yet. That demand management strategy will give us a lot of options and part of it is how we do parking, it is very much part of the equation."

Asked directly if he wanted to see parking charges increase for SUVs, Mr Ryan said: “I’m going to wait and see.” He added that he would wait to hear proposals from his officials before it goes to consultation.

Mr Ryan was also asked about the potential for a congestion charge in Dublin city, saying that he didn’t believe it would deliver on reducing traffic.

“You wouldn’t rule (such a charge) out in 10, 15 years into the future. Lord knows what a future Government would do. But actually, (with) this Government it’s about re-allocating space, its about making it safer because that can be done quicker, that’s much more effective and its desperately needed.

“I don’t think a congestion charge would deliver that… We’re going to re-allocate space rather than putting it on a congestion charges.”