Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
The Daily PollTHE GOVERNMENT IS expected to publish legislation later today that will allow for the setting up of a new DNA database in Ireland.
Justice Minister Alan Shatter will set out the details of the new bill, but so far we know that the new law will compel sex offenders, criminals convicted of serious crimes, and those suspected of serious crimes to provide their DNA for the new database.
The database will help to solve crimes and trace missing persons, but civil liberties groups and others may have concerns about the indefinite retention of people’s information if the Garda Commissioner deems it necessary.
But what do you think? Is a DNA database a good idea?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The LUAS should have been underground from day one – it was an outdated idea to begin with . To think that nobody thought that joining the lines from day one was a good idea . Nonsense
@Dodzer33: usual nonsense being repeated as fact. They wanted to join the lines from day 1 but as usual in Ireland vested interests won the day in the form of businesses along the cross city route lobbying for it not to happen out of fears for footfall.
@Dodzer33: 100% agree Waiting at traffic lights is long enough , When a tram comes along it starts the lights off on new sequences which puts another few minutes onto your wait in a car especially at the last luas stop at the Sq. Sdcc and Government are out to make it impossible to have and drive a car in Dublin.
@Alan Scott: so take public transport, or a bike.
@Ronan Fahy: And now that they’re joined….College green and surrounding roads are paralyzed!!
@Alan Scott:
I’d say your ire should be better directed to all your fellow drivers who want to have and/or drive a car in Dublin!
@Jonny Chip: NO.
@Dodzer33: if want bulit underground will more cos Billions
@Michael Kavanagh: Not fully awake yet Michael when you are, take a look at this accident in the photo you will see there’s no cars involved but two forms of public transport.
@Alan Scott: that’s some terrible logic you’re employing there. Are you saying private cars DON’T crash?
@Fred Coloe: solution. Remove cars altogether. They shouldn’t ne in the city centre anyway.
@Alan Scott: you think you should, as a single occupant in a car should have priority over a tram with hundreds of people on board? Typical self entitlement of motordom, right there. Maybe if all drivers actually obeyed red lights these incidents might not happen so often.
@Alan Scott: You post a comment which has nothing to do with this incident @Michael Kavanagh responds to your comment and you have the audacity to criticize him. Luas/bus carries multiple times what a car does and should take precedence on the roads.
@Behold! For a start get proper title for a journal account and then I’ll gladly respond. Bot untill then.
@Michael Carolan: Correction Not
@Michael Carolan: Anyone got a tissue for Michael?
@Alan Scott: ‘Correction Not’…..what point are you making?
@Alan Scott: Why do I need a tissue?
@Dodzer33: other countries use similar overground systems without problems, underground would be too costly and difficult
@Ronan Fahy: what ever happened to customers
@Fred Coloe: because we insist on taking the car everywhere and still allow cars everywhere…the city centre and College Green should be car free like in many European and more advance cities. And I am someone who loves driving!
@Alan Scott: this is bull!
Mr Ross this bus connect thing is going a step to far
@Shane Cormican: comment of the weekend contender
@Shane Cormican: actually lol’d at your comment
Can you imagine how ridiculous the injury claims are going to be….
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: all 250 of them..lol
@GerryCummins: it’ll be like the bus crash in Waterford a few years ago. 5 or 6 tickets sold, 18 people brought to hospital.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Cute hooers them Deise bois
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: wait until you see the payouts
Witnesses at the scene say the bus had a green light
@Irish Spider-Man: A green light doesn’t mean go. It means proceed with caution. The Luas would have right of way so the should have waited.
@KevJ: Wromg
@KevJ: I believe you are 100% mistaken
@Luke Windak: The bus should have waited.
@KevJ: Nonsense
@Irish Spider-Man: They’ll figure out if that was true or not quick enough, there’s CCTV pointing 3 directions on that junction because of the number of past incidents.
Also there’s flashing lights in the road on Queen St that come on when a Luas is passing & lights are red.
@Irish Spider-Man: all the replies here is the reason why it happened. If the bus had a green light some folk replying here says he should have waited or given way to the luas lol. So ur effectively saying stop on green and go on red.
@KevJ: A green light means go mate and if the bus had a green light then the Luas has gone through a stop signal.
@RJ: if the luas has a red light the brakes are automatically applied if the luas breaks it. I think there was a case a few years ago where it turned out to be a signalling fault and both the luas and the bus had a green light.
@KevJ: you are 100% correct in what you say, and those that are saying you are wrong need to read the rules of the road.
Word for word from rules of the road…”A green light does not mean go or give you the right of way. A green light means proceed with caution when the way is clear”.
@Jason Ebbs: Correct about the meaning of a green light but incorrect about the Luas having the right of way. The traffic lights and the Luas aspects are interlocked. Its one or the other.
@Irish Spider-Man: Well you have the case solved
I’m sure Dublin bus will want to talk to you.
@Tom Thumb: Scroll down to page 103 on info to what a green light means (hint…it does not mean go)
http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Learner%20Drivers/Rules_of_the_road.pdf
@KevJ: Green light, drive on ta fup
@Fr. Fintan Stack: I never even mentioned the Luas in my post because I don’t know the facts surrounding the incident. My comment was about the meaning of a green light ;-)
@Jason Ebbs: I appreciate that but you said KevJ was 100% correct.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: fair enough I did. Should have clarified…100% correct in the meaning of a green light.
@Jason Ebbs: Ha ha, I think its time for me to get away from the computer and go for a walk.
@KevJ: spot on – red means do not pass stop line (or light if no stop line) and green means proceed with caution.
Interestingly enough if you pass the stop line when green you are no longer under the control of the lights ( like entering a junction and queueing to turn right) and may complete the maneuver (turn right) after the lights change. This is one very good reason the green allows you proceed with caution.
@KevJ: Green light does mean go a flashing Amber means proceed with caution.
@KevJ: I just love this armchair bus and luas inspector stuff with little rants. One thinking they know more and more important than the other.
@KevJ: Wrong. Worst comment of the week.
@KevJ: there is no law saying give right of way to luas. If the bus had a green light and the luas had the correct signal, then the crash was inevitable. With the buildings blocking the drivers views they would not have been able to stop in time.
@Mac Dara Powell: wrong. Green light is proceed with caution but only if the way is clear.
Page 103 rules of the road
@Mac Dara Powell: Amber means stop if it’s safe to do so. Not floor it to get through just before or after it changes to red, as so many people seem to think it means
@Irish Spider-Man: I very much doubt it
None for months, now they come along like buses,ffs.
That picture looks like Brexit.
A person, a car, a bus… What’s next?
@Nikas Peckeliunas: Airplane?
@Nikas Peckeliunas: Luas?
@Nikas Peckeliunas: Horse?
@Sean Ryan: Wheelie bin?
@Nikas Peckeliunas: monorail
@Roger Bermejo: is there a chance the track could bend?
@Nikas Peckeliunas: next hopefully pedestrians and drivers will wake the frig up
@Mark Byrne: Not on your life my Hindu friend
@Sean Ryan: *aeroplane
@Nikas Peckeliunas: A bluas
Most developed cities have a light rail system and also motorists,cyclists,pedestrians dublin is not unique, however Irish peoples attitudes to the rules of the road and enforcement is the main issue, cctv , bigger penalties including revoking licences needs to happen, when people dont pay much of a price for their actions then guess what happens , nothing , attitudes and behaviour doesnt change.
@Sean Beinead: so true. Galway needs the same enforcement
What was a Dublin Bus doing going down Queen st in the first place. No bus route on Queen St.
@Leo vodka: it would have been coming from phibsborough bus garage heading to whatever terminus to enter service
@Leo vodka: The 5.30am 39a from Ongar to UCD takes that route Monday to Saturday. It goes up North King Street past Smithfield, on to Queen Street and down Blackhall Place. This is to allow workers access the areas and also heads up to Heuston Station and back down the quays onto the normal 39a route. It’s a great service and there should be more early buses to cater for shift workers.
@Thomas j: ah well there you have it!
@Thomas j: With passengers on board?
@eddie horgan: Reading it again. Passengers were on the tram
Jesus again laus getting like playing Russian roulette wit your life these days, how many accidents is that 3 In 2months think I go back to my bicycle #all for cyclists ✌
@Mark Murphy: laus ?? Wit ??
@Mark Murphy: are you drunk?
@Mark Murphy: The luas is highly visible and runs on a track. If people took their time, looked up from their phones, and watched where they were going, nobody would get hurt. Unless there was a conflict between traffic lights or negligence on the part of the luas driver, I don’t see how this particular incident was the fault of the luas.
@Virginia Gamely: you’ll probably find one of the two drivers was at fault. It’s a narrow field.
@Sega Yolo: thanks Sherlock
@MurtyMac: There’s a lot of Sherlock’s on the Journal today.
Monorail
There’ll be some amount of compo claims made out of this one!
@GRANjzT: The injured are in hospital licking their lips, dreaming of the big pay off, exaggerating their injuries big time.
@GRANjzT: at least 250…lol
Other cities built underground transport 100 years ago. Here we are again, latecomers in public transport and public health, to name but two.
Why do we vote for lazy clod hopping spoofers with no vision and an unwillingness to plan properly.
We could learn from others but we always have to start with a blank sheet of paper and make the mistakes that have been made elsewhere and learnt from.
Well done to generations of underwhelmed politicians and their special adviser lackeys.
@m flynsk: Mate, we weren’t even a country one hundred years ago. If you have an issue with the lack of transport foresight in building an underground back in the day, blame the Tans.
That luas is a public eyesore on Dublin streets its constantly causing trouble when will the government cop on and take it out of service for the good of people s health
@liam ward60: Liam! Relax there hardly an eyesore! I find it great!! People giving out about luas when it’s on a stationary track. Surely the bus is the one that can move around!!
@liam ward60: was in Edinburgh recently, it had a grand eyesore running through the city!!!
@liam ward60:
I have commuted and went sight-seeing in many a city, including Dublin, via their eyesores – and enjoyed it!
@liam ward60: eyesore?? Suppose we all see the world differently. I suppose you think the spire looks great?
@Mushy Peas: the spire is great! At least it gives tourists something to look at on O’Connell street. It’s the one time this country had the balls to build something big and bold.
@liam ward60: Grumpy old man much?
@liam ward60: You clearly don’t live on the red line. It’s a far better transport link into town for thousands of people.
@GRANjzT: The spire is an artistic comment on heroin use in Dublin. Nelson’s pillar, (a symbol of British colonialism) replaced with a symbol of IV. drug use. Something to be proud of.
@GRANjzT: each to their own I guess. I’m happy to live with it now that it’s there, but not a fan of the design.
I think they should update it somehow. And maybe add names of citizens for recognition, such as Vicky Phelan to give an example.
@Ryan Dub: LOL
@liam ward60: why? Public transport is better for everyone. There are trams all over the world that operate just fine. Amsterdam teams operate alongside cyclists pedestrians and cars. Irish attitudes to driving and travel need to change. Laws need to be enforced.
I read a good article about the luas the other day. Yes it’s great up to a point BUT, look at the capacity issues we have had on the green line. Not going underground in city centre creates multiple issues, unpredictable journey times, frequent collisions, massive knock on consequences above ground. You get what you pay for! Those crush scenes will be repeated again in a few years even with the new trams being ordered, thousands of apartments are being planned or under construction along the green line and cherrywood, will have 8000 apartments, shopping centre and commercial. The south side of line needs to be upgraded, to metro as per the original long term plan when the luas was designed. It’s going to be carnage if the green line south side isn’t part of the metrolink scheme!
Plenty cities like Bordeaux and Lyon have excellent Luas lines. Nothing wrong with them. Should completely ban cars from parts of the city centre
My thoughts and prayers are with everybody…. I hope they all have a speedy recovery and get back to work ASAP… It must have been an extremely terrifying, frightening life changing experience…. Once again God bless……
So when are we going to find out who’s fault it was
Hurry on down to Bargaintown…
*None of their injuries IS life-threatening
It is a blessing that the bus was empty at the time. Every single day someone gets hurt somewhere on one of these buses in Dublin. Dublin Bus drivers are guilty of speeding and aggressive driving, something that should absolutely not be allowed when driving a 12 tonne death trap. Granted we don’t know yet who’s to blame in this case but I’m willing to give the Luas the benefit of the doubt.
@Sandra Shore: “A 12 tonne death trap” Really? How many people do Dublin Bus carry every year? Out of all those people exactly how many die per year because of these 12 tonne vehicles?
Seeing as you are obviously privy to the accident figures of Dublin Bus would you care to elaborate as to what type of injuries people are receiving every day on the buses and the cause of such injuries.
You say you are willing to give the LUAS the benefit of the doubt but without any evidence what about the bus driver? Surely both would deserve the benefit of the doubt? The last I heard people were presumed innocent until proven guilty! You can’t convict a someone in this case based on whatever you saw or heard about in the past!
Let’s wait and see what all the CCTV shows before appointing blame!
@Sandra Shore: I agree. I was almost creamed by a bus which came through a red light in city centre. Luckily I saw him coming
They may paint the luas red i think
3 in a week who the hell is driving these
why are collisions still happening one of the drivers broke the law which one?
Cha-ching €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€
have your say