City traffic changes will impact on both residents and businesses

Being a resident of Dublin, I am writing to offer my views on the proposed changes to the city-centre traffic flow.

I agree with Senator David Norris, who has described the measures as “tyrannical” and grossly unfair to city-centre residents; with Prof Alan Titley (Emeritus), who has said that they are contrary to the life of a city; with Timmy Dooley, TD, who has said the measures are a “hollowing-out” of the city centre; with Prof Des O’Neill, Dublin geriatrician, who has said that “access to all forms of transport is a lifelong health strategy”; and, particularly, with the spokesperson for the Automobile Association, who has said that the measures are “ideologically driven” rather than “traffic driven”.

The damage that would ensue to city-centre businesses, particularly in retail, from the implementation of these plans, has been well-aired and the claims for a benefit to tourism are, rightly, disputed.

The indifference to the plight of the less able, the elderly and the incapacitated, who cannot access public transport, has been widely decried.

Suffering for many years an Irish vehicle-registration tax, which is punitive, and the diversion of motor tax revenue to areas other than road maintenance, most motorists must, surely, find these measures unacceptable.

Annette Lyne

Dunmore Park

Ballymount

Dublin 24.