The Labour Party yesterday promised to review decentralisation, introduce 500 new buses and to establish a Greater Dublin Authority with a directly elected mayor as part of a plan to transform the capital if in Government after the general election.
The party leader, Pat Rabbitte, said Dublin has all the ingredients to become a great European city and could be doing a lot better. But Dubliners needed help to create a city which is an "engine of economic growth" and also a place to live, to work and to bring up a family and to improve quality of life.
Unveiling a 10-point plan for Dublin at a party rally, spokesman on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Ruairí Quinn promised a major review of the Government's decentralisation plan which he claimed threatens to waste taxpayers money and to damage our public services. He said there is a real danger that major property commitments have been entered into which will only offer partial service and create wasteful duplication.
"We are not against decentralisation but are against the expulsion of people out of the city when they have children in schools and partners with jobs here." Mr Quinn said the party would increase the Dublin bus fleet by 500 and extend the bus network to major residential areas. It would also introduce a standard €1 adult fare and 50 cent fare for children for the entire Dublin bus network within a 25-mile radius.
The plan also promises to develop Dublin as a cultural capital and open a Science Museum, a Dublin City Museum and to convert the GPO into a city lending library.
The pedestrianisation of College Green and the opening of city squares is also promised.
Mr Quinn said Labour would also establish a Greater Dublin Authority with a directly elected city mayor which would have responsibility for strategic planning and transportation.
Mr Rabbitte said: "making Dublin a great European city requires vision, determination and hard work.
"The lives of hard-working people are reduced to a treadmill of long days filled with constant traffic, work and trying to hold it all together. Across Dublin there are signs of private affluence but little public wealth."
The party introduced its 15 candidates in the 12 Dublin constituencies before yesterday's rally.