The proposed new metro line linking Dublin city centre with the airport should have a stop located in the main plaza of the "underused" Department of Education buildings in Marlborough Street, according to a submission to the Railway Procurement Agency's (RPA) public consultation process from city centre traders.
The Dublin City Business Association (DCBA) believes that if located under the plaza, the north city centre metro station could accommodate large numbers of pedestrians exiting and entering the metro.
The Department of Education is due to move to Mullingar within three years as part of the Government's planned decentralisation process.
In its submission supporting the proposed central route for the metro, business association chief executive Tom Coffey says that with a footfall of 60 million per year already, O'Connell Street would become too congested if a metro stop were to be located there.
The association's members include Arnotts, Boots, Dublin Bus, Marks and Spencer and Roches Stores, employing more than 25,000 people in the city centre.
In previous correspondence with the association, the RPA has expressed concerns about space constraints in the Marlborough Street plaza.
If approved, it may necessitate the acquisition of extra buildings and demolition work, it also believes.
However, this is something which the DCBA disputes. It believes a metro station at the main plaza might drive development and economic activity east of O'Connell Street, and create a "joined-up" economic area from Smithfield to the IFSC.
On the south side of the city, the business association wishes to see a stop at St Stephen's Green, which is in line with the intentions of the RPA.
"This [Marlborough Street] location also has the advantage that it is within a two to five-minute walk of O'Connell Street, the quays, and the Luas IFSC, and hence in the heart of the central business district transport hub," Mr Coffey said.
His comments are contained in the association's submission to the second round of public consultation on the metro north route, sent to the RPA last week and seen by The Irish Times.
"It is also between O'Connell Street and the Docklands, which is an area with significant potential for development of new business and customer growth."
The association also claimed that it is the "norm" in European cities for the main street to be reserved for pedestrians, buses, bicycles and shoppers' cars.
The adjacent streets are then used for light rail and metro, it added.