The relief brought to the centre of Dublin and, in particular, the Liffey quays by the imposition of the city council's management strategy for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) must be wholeheartedly welcomed.
Although it is only a day old and will take some time to become embedded, the strategy of excluding trucks with five axles or more and requiring them to use the port tunnel instead has worked in terms of improving the quality of life in the inner city. Only those with legitimate business are being allowed in, and they must have permits to cross the specified cordon; it is notable that the Garda Síochána was active yesterday in enforcing the new rules.
Dublin had long been anomalous in a European context for the number of trucks trundling through its streets. This was mainly due to the location of the port, hemmed in between the inner city and Dublin Bay. Since the port tunnel was first planned in 1994, its explicit aim was to provide a route for HGVs travelling between the port, the M50 and the national road network - a project that has cost Irish taxpayers at least €752 million. So it ill behoves the Irish Road Haulage Association and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec) to oppose implementing the HGV strategy until the €1 billion upgrade of the M50 is completed.
In its position paper on the issue last February, Ibec actually argued that the authorities should "designate truck access and transit corridors as alternatives to the tunnel" - even along the Liffey quays. Jimmy Quinn, spokesman for the hauliers, said earlier this month that "the notion of allowing the entire port output on to the M50 is bananas". This type of language is reminiscent of the vociferous campaign conducted by the Automobile Association and others against the introduction of the Stillorgan Road Quality Bus Corridor (QBC) in 1999. Indeed, Fine Gael spokeswoman on transport Olivia Mitchell TD warned that "traffic across a wide swathe of south Co Dublin will come to a complete standstill".
Such fears were groundless. In fact, the Stillorgan Road QBC turned out to be a resounding success. If traffic in south Dublin and other parts of the city has come to a standstill on occasion, it is for other reasons - mainly because there are too many cars on our roads. The traffic authorities held their nerve on introducing the bus corridor and have done the same so far in relation to the HGV management strategy. Of course, there are bound to be teething troubles but it should be possible to alleviate them with goodwill on all sides. What happened yesterday was a bold move, but also a great one for the streets and quays of Dublin.