Irish Examiner View: Leadership stuck in gridlock when it comes to congestion charges

Congestion charges are needed, for the sake of the environment, but few politicians would be willing to face the potential fallout.

Removing cars, and congestion, from city centres is an aspiration many cities share, as it would produce many long-term benefits. Picture: Larry Cummins

Appropriately enough for a discussion on transport-related matters, when the issue of congestion charges in Irish cities has arisen recently, the debate has moved in two different directions.

On the one hand, a senior official in the Department of Transport said that congestion charges just needed to be pushed through and would eventually be welcomed by those paying the charges.

On the other, the Taoiseach dismissed the possibility of congestion charges being introduced in the lifetime of this Government, or in the near future, just a couple of weeks ago.

Removing cars, and congestion, from city centres is an aspiration many cities share, though in places as diverse as Copenhagen and Milan, it’s less an aspiration than an achievement. 

The benefits of reducing traffic range from the health and safety of pedestrians to an infrastructural dividend, not to mention the long-term benefits for the environment in terms of reducing emissions.

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But, as acknowledged by the Department of Transport official, people are resistant to change being imposed on them, particularly when it comes to transport. Anyone familiar with the BusConnects Cork debates will attest to that.

But when that official added “it’s just about pushing it through and someone to lead it”, then we come to the crux.

Pushing congestion charges through and leading the way will be politically difficult, particularly for members of this Government. They won’t need telling that an electorate already grappling with the soaring cost of living, the housing crisis in all its forms, and sundry other problems, will hardly welcome yet another charge being imposed on their day-to-day lives.

Yet congestion charges are needed, for the sake of the environment if nothing else. Whatever about the potential political fallout in the short or medium term, it is the right thing to do.

As that civil servant pointed out, though, it is a measure that needs to be led by someone. And leaders are always rarer than politicians.