Madam, - I would like to make a few comments related to the debate between Ciaran Cuffe and Connor Faughnan on parking levies (Head to Head, November 24th).
The proposal to tax city parking spaces and reduce their number is based on the assumption that making parking harder and more expensive will encourage people to switch to public transport.
In fact, such levies will further encourage businesses to choose locations with the lowest parking levies. The attractions of suburban and ex-urban locations are that they have lower costs and are convenient for motorists. More expensive city car-parking does not reduce those attractions.
Plans to rid the city centre of cars are one-sided and simplistic. Without a balanced mix of transport modes, a carless city centre will become, at best, a sterile boutique district for tourists while car-dependent suburban shopping and living will continue to proliferate.
The problem of Ireland's over-dependence on cars requires a radical solution, not tinkering with taxes. A sensible, long-term strategy should be to increase the density of Ireland's main towns without increasing their area.
This means a wholesale replacement of post-war suburbs of semi-detached houses with streets of taller, terraced houses and apartments (but not in blocks).
In this case, the building industry could be used as a tool for economic growth while creating sustainable cities that people can afford and want to live in.
This model exists already, being the way cities were built before the introduction of motor transport. - Yours, etc,
RICHARD HERRIOTT,
Aarhus,
Denmark.