Traffic congestion in Dublin costs the economy £500 million a year and worsens the quality of life, so new cities should be built to reduce pressure on the capital, the Fine Gael leader has said.
Presenting his party's "emergency proposals" to reduce traffic congestion in Dublin, Mr John Bruton said money was available in unprecedented quantities, but quality of life was deteriorating. "Traffic bottlenecks are starting to choke our economy. This is a First World country with a Third World infrastructure," he said.
Calling for huge investment in buses, trains and roads, Mr Bruton suggested that new cities should be developed in Dundalk, Drogheda and Athlone "to take the pressure off Dublin. That means Dublin will need more bus links and more rail links with these cities. That will put more pressure on Dublin's already outdated capacity to cope," he added.
The housing shortage would also have to be addressed. Over the next decade, four new houses would have to be built for every 10 existing houses. Each house would have to be constructed on land which was serviced with buses and trains as it would be unsustainable for each residence to have two cars.
Fine Gael's proposals demand urgent government policies and a change in the prevailing "zero movement". The party proposes 250 new buses in addition to the 1,000 covering 150 routes. Licences should be provided for private bus operators to develop new routes in the city and Dublin Bus should sub-contract selected routes to the private sector.
An additional helicopter should be provided to identify traffic problems and to relay solutions to gardai on the ground.
Each of the Dublin local authorities should be provided with the resources to employ small traffic and parking regulation forces to update the traffic warden system.
Fine Gael's spokeswoman on Dublin traffic, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said the benefits of improved traffic signal technology could not be realised without properly trained personnel. Under the present system, Dublin local authorities could not attract or retain sufficient personnel as engineers either left for the private sector or chose posts in other counties where housing costs were lower.
The Fine Gael document says that by 2011 an additional 210,000 people will be working in Dublin, but there is no new proposal on how they will get to their jobs. By the same date, 1.6 million will live in greater Dublin, producing half of the national economic output.