Cycleways and public consultation

Sir, – Much ink has been spilt over the proposed six-month trial of a cycleway on Strand Road in the Sandymount area of Dublin. Your most recent correspondent Alayna Joseph (Letters, January 14th) laments that Dublin City Council's public consultation for the trial "was flawed from the start", while noting that 56 per cent of respondents to the consultation strongly support the trial. I would suggest that the council has bent over backwards to take on board public opinion, including those of local residents.

Since the council announced the proposed trial last year, it held a public consultation from August to September 2020. After the initial consultation, in October the council engaged with some Sandymount-based residents under the “STC” umbrella group to review their alternative proposal, and indeed the council published their suggested idea on the Dublin City Council website. In November, a formal presentation to councillors regarding that STC proposal occurred, with responses from the National Transport Authority and the council relating to the proposal. In addition, Hazel Chu, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, facilitated a forum with stakeholders to discuss the proposals even further.

To me it sounds like politicians and Dublin City Council officials have made serious attempts to engage with these particular residents and listen to their concerns. However, Strand Road is a public road, it is not the exclusive domain of some residents in Sandymount, hence the general public consultation. Whether it is online, on paper or in person, the general public has a right to engage and it appears it has engaged on this particular trial proposal. Under the regulations Dublin City Council is working under, it can decide to accept or ignore the feedback, but it would generally be in its best interests to work with the feedback it has.

Ultimately the council is the authority that is charged with managing this public space in the best interest of the public, and I wish all concerned well with the proposed trial. – Yours, etc,

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TERRY O’FLOINN,

Bolquère, France.

A chara, – In a letter arguing against the Strand Road cycleway, a correspondent argues that “Closing one road to traffic will simply push it into the next”. The idea that there is some fixed quantity of traffic that can only be moved from one place to the next is simply wrong. Ireland has spent decades attempting to solve traffic problems by building more roads. Private car ownership has trebled in the last 30 years, far faster than population growth, because when we build for cars, people use cars. The opposite is also true. When we build alternatives to cars – good public transport and safe cycleways – people use them instead. The Strand Road cycleway will not simply redirect traffic, it will reduce traffic. Reducing traffic will reduce pollution, reduce emissions, and improve public health. Build it. – Is mise,

RAY CUNNINGHAM,

Walkinstown, Dublin 12.