Letters

Letters: Readers respond to Una Mullally’s article on cutting car use in Dublin city

Dublin city – ‘cars have to go’

Irish Times letters

Letters to The Irish Times

Wed Mar 29 2023 - 00:17

On Monday Una Mullally wrote a column for The Irish Times with the headline ‘Cars have to go. People can fight this all they want, but it has to happen’

Since its publication, many readers have responded in the letters page. Below is a selection of those.

You can read the full article here: Una Mullally: Cars have to go. People can fight this all they want, but it has to happen

Sir, – I note from Una Mullally’s piece that she believes that the new head of Dublin City Council should ignore public consultation and immediately rid the city of SUVs and other fossil-fuelled transport (“Cars have to go. People can fight this all they want, but it has to happen”, Opinion & Analysis, March 27th).

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I would caution her that the imposition of a dictator rarely works out well for the general population, or indeed for journalists. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL O’REILLY,

Sandycove,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – I just wanted to commend Una Mullally on her excellent article on Monday.

We are lucky that this journalist has chosen now and on multiple previous occasions over the years to use her voice in The Irish Times to put forward a vision for a liveable future for us all.

We need more people of her calibre across all sections of the media to stand up and speak up in order to try and ensure that we actually have a world to leave behind for the next generation.

I hope that your columnist’s advocacy for a greener, healthier Dublin will have the same success as her efforts in helping to drive social change, for example in the areas of women’s and LGBTQI rights.

This fight is for all of us but the catastrophe we are trying to avoid will undoubtedly disproportionately affect the working classes, while the SUV owners will likely have better means to survive (initially anyway).

Thank you, Una Mullally, and please keep up the good fight. – Yours, etc,

JENNIFER HAYDE,

Rialto,

Dublin 8.

Sir, – I note that Una Mullally states that cars have to go. She may be right, as I would think that my grandfather, born 1869, would have asked, as a young man, “What’s a motor car?” Now I can see that in the future my great-grandchildren may also ask, “What’s a motor car?” – Yours, etc,

TONY CORCORAN,

Rathfarnham,

Dublin 14.

Sir, – Una Mullally is absolutely correct.

I look forward to the outraged letters from readers losing their minds over her article, and crying “What about work, what about mobility issues, won’t someone please think of the children!”.

Bonus points for a letter stating “this is impossible for rural Ireland”, which was not mentioned at all in the suggestions, which are specific to Dublin city centre.

The reality is that with fewer cars in the city centre those who really need to drive will face fewer obstacles, and less traffic, when getting around.

The rest of us (with our children) can venture to the city centre by availing of buses that are no longer stuck in traffic, trains that are not delayed by a level-crossing being struck, and (hopefully) new cycle paths in the public spaces previously reserved for the storage of private cars. – Yours, etc,

Dr MARIA O’BRIEN,

Bayside,

Dublin 13.

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