Sir, - A debate on the future of O'Connell Street (and indeed the rest of Dublin city centre) is welcome, but unfortunately Patrick Shaffrey's article and sketch (June 28th) fail to identify several of the elements needed for a successful transformation of the thoroughfare.
His drawing of how the street might look suffers from the un-realism of many artist's impressions by omitting inconvenient details such as traffic lights, proper street lighting and realistic travel levels. More fundamentally, Mr Shaffrey fails to include a Luas line, bus lane or cycle lane.
Furthermore, Mr Shaffrey doesn't mention in his article the chronic pedestrian problems associated with O'Connell Bridge, where inevitable jay-walking creates a highly dangerous situation. The only solution here (and at Henry Street/Talbot Street) is subway crossings, with proper railings to discourage illegal crossing. The introduction of subways at key junctions throughout the city would facilitate traffic progress, while the more widespread use of railings would not only cut down jay-walking, but also deter casual illegal parking by users of on street shops.
The long-term rejuvenation of the city centre is intimately connected with new transport policies. Cyclists in Dublin deserve to be rewarded for their ecologically beneficial transport choice. Instead they are treated worse than motorists, with no road space, no rights of way, no secure parking and even harassment from gardai.
Cycling and public transportation should be allies but in Dublin the health of cyclists (and the facades of the city's finest buildings, many recently cleaned) continue to be damaged by the (surely illegal?) levels of emissions from buses. Will the new Government introduce emission testing, as is common in other countries, and force disgustingly polluting buses off the road? Or must the city and its citizens continue to suffer? - Yours, etc., DECLAN O'BRIEN, Arlon, Belgium.