'Car is king': Government TDs hit out at plans for congestion charge

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to bring memo to Cabinet on Tuesday aiming to allow country reach emissions-reduction targets

Mr Ryan has stressed congestion charges will not be the "first response" to reducing the number of cars in cities, and that being stuck in traffic benefits nobody.  File photo

Plans to introduce congestion charges and higher car parking fees in a bid to reduce car usage have been widely criticised by Government TDs.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan will bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday which will trigger a year-long process of developing a “demand management strategy” to allow the country to reach its emissions-reduction targets.

The strategy will be completed by the end of the year and will produce a suite of policies, proposed legislation, and potential new taxes aiming to reduce car use over the next decade.

It is deemed to be essential in meeting the country's emissions targets.

Mr Ryan has stressed congestion charges will not be the "first response" to reducing the number of cars in cities, and that being stuck in traffic benefits nobody. 

He is facing a backlash from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs and senators, who have branded the move as “tone deaf” and “not wise”.

Government members of the Oireachtas transport committee have all called for the proposed charges to be delayed until such time as the public transport network is capable of coping with additional numbers.

'The car is king'

Cathal Crowe, a Fianna Fáil TD for Clare and member of the transport committee, branded the move as anti-rural Ireland, saying that in his county, the "car is king”.

“These policies might fit in Dublin, but in the country, car is king and we don’t have the public transport to allow the modal shift. It is tone deaf to rural Ireland, way off the mark as far as I am concerned,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Mr Crowe said he would be “pushing back on this policy".

“Any punitive measures such as these charges I would be pushing back and Fianna Fáil must push back on this anti-rural proposal,” he said.

"We can’t make that shift without a proper network of public transport and that simply doesn’t exist in rural Ireland,” he said.

Cathal Crowe: "We can't make shift without a proper network of public transport and that simply doesn't exist in rural Ireland."

Cork East Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor, who is also a member of the transport committee, said the proposal is “infuriating” as the infrastructure is simply not there to allow people to switch from their car.

“It is infuriating the infrastructure is not there. The Green lines and Dart are at capacity in the mornings. Not a single kilometre of additional rail track has been laid since this Government took office,” he said.

Mr O'Connor added that Mr Ryan’s proposal smacked of a “ticking-of-the-box exercise”.

“I would much prefer to see a plan from the Department of Transport to increase capacity rather than a congestion charge,” he added.

Fianna Fáil senator Timmy Dooley said the plan shouldn’t be penalising people.

“We have done a lot in terms of cycling but the network of buses and trains is not there. You have to make it a personal choice. To do this is treating people unfairly. Congestion charges in London make sense, as they have a world-class system. Not in Ireland, we are not there yet,” he told the Irish Examiner.