Traffic in Dublin will remain a "gridlocked mess" until the city is given responsibility for making transport decisions through a democratically accountable metropolitan authority, according to the author of a new book.
In Gridlock: Dublin's transport crisis and the future of the city, Dr James Wickham, director of the Employment Research Centre at Trinity College, calls on Minister for Transport Martin Cullen to "give Dublin's streets back to its citizens".
Although he was pleased that Mr Cullen had "put transport on the Cabinet table", Dr Wickham said the Minister needed to go further by extending the responsibilities of the proposed Dublin Transport Authority (DTA) to include land-use planning.
"In order to make this work, the DTA needs to be accountable to the citizens of Dublin," he said. "Rather than asking what the Minister is going to do next, we should be asking when he is going to allow Dubliners to decide on Dublin's transport."
Speaking at the launch of the book last night, Dr Wickham said Dublin had become a car-dependent city because it had been largely shaped by the unco-ordinated interests of property developers, while its public transport system was "destroyed".
"The city is designed for people with cars, which makes the car a necessity, not a luxury. And those who do not have a car - whether they are too young, too old or quite simply too poor - run the risk of being excluded from what is now defined as normal life."
Dr Wickham said ending gridlock would require accelerated investment in public transport as well as institutional change.
In particular, the new DTA - whose chairwoman, Dr Margaret O'Mahony, launched the book - "needs real transport and land use planning powers".
The issue of safety also needed to be addressed. "For public transport to work, we need to feel safe on it and we need to feel safe on the city streets. If public spaces are dangerous, the sensible person avoids them and gets into his [or in particular, her] car."
Dr Wickham said the time had come to imagine Dublin as "a multi-modal city in which citizens have genuine choices as to how they move around".
The book is published by Tasc, the "think-tank" for action on social change, price €13.99. Further information from its website, www.tascnet.ie, or telephone 01-616 9050.