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THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT Authority will tell an Oireachtas committee today that it has received 30,000 submissions on the BusConnects plan.
Appearing before the committee, Anne Graham, Chief Executive Officer of the National Transport Authority (NTA) will tell members that they are continuing to work on the revisions to the proposed network.
Graham states in her opening statement that this work will be completed this summer, however, she adds that “in deference to the requests received from public representatives, we will commence the consultation on the revised network in September this year”.
There has been some controversy over the new plans to overhaul 16 of the busiest bus corridors in Dublin.
The BusConnects project will redesign the bus network by delivering 230 kilometres of dedicated bus lanes and 200 kilometres of cycle tracks.
However, concerns were raised after it emerged that some homeowners will lose some of their gardens due to the plans.
A number of areas of south Dublin have protested against the NTA plans, with locals claiming it will destroy communities.
The planned NTA Bus Connects Corridor 12 from Rathfarnham to the city centre is one such plan being met with strong opposition from local residents and businesses.
Rathgar Road Residents Group has joined neighbours from Rathfarnham, Templeogue and Terenure by launching the ‘Rathgar Is A Community Not A Corridor’ campaign.
Recently, local residents and campaigners in Stoneybatter held a a day of action to highlight what they said will be the “devastating impact” the new bus corridor in their area.
Public consultation
The first phase of the public consultations commenced in November 2018, the second phase starting in January 2019, and the third phase commencing on 26 February 2019.
Since the initial consultation was launched in 2018, BusConnects customer service team has responded to approximately 1000 calls and a total of 2,400 emails and webform questions, the committee will be told.
To date, NTA representatives have met 230 property owners regarding the current bus plan proposals – this equates to about 15% of all affected property owners seeking a one-to-one meeting.
Graham will also tell the committee that 1200 people have attended the 12 public information events that have been held so far, with more meetings scheduled for this week.
She will also tell members that the closing dates for the consultation have been extended by one month on all phases, so members of the public can still submit their opinions on the plans.
Metrolink plans
Separately, the committee will also discuss the new Metrolink plan, which was announced yesterday.
The NTA confirmed that the Metrolink project will not continue south of the Charlemont Luas stop in Dublin.
The move had been widely expected, following reports last month that the route, which had been due to run to Sandyford in the south of the county, would terminate at the south city stop due to planned disruption of the Luas Green Line lasting up to four years.
The announcement this afternoon follows a public consultation on an initial route last year, when the National Transport Authority received over 8,000 submissions on the matter.
Now, the mostly underground route, due to connect Dublin Airport to the city centre will stop at Charlemont, just to the south of the Ranelagh Lias stop.
A proposed upgrade of the Luas Green Line will instead occur “at an appropriate point in the future”, although the authority said this may not happen for up to 20 years.
“It is projected that the number of people seeking to travel on the Green Line in future years will exceed the carrying capacity of the Luas system, requiring an upgrade. However, that upgrade is not expected to be needed for some time – perhaps twenty years or so,” Graham will tell the committee today.
In her opening statement, she outlines that under the new Metrolink plan the number of homes that will need to be acquired for the project has been reduced, stating that for example, the apartment building near Glasnevin Station, which is currently home to about 40 people, will no longer need to be acquired.
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The government are a joke, and their attempts to wash their hands of responsibility are pathetic
@ Stephan you are so right they could have stopped this strike at the drop of a hat but they prefer to give the Money to Europe.
All you negs ( Negatives) should stop looking for scapegoats every time ,you think the Govt should cave in to every interest group especially to the those who can hold us all to ransom .
You all blame the FF govt for bankrupting our country and for the austerity suffered since and now you want the country to go down the exact same road again.
We are on the brink of anarchy which is a dream to some of you negs .
@ ReChew you sound like a bit of a Gobs (gobshįte)
Typical response of Negs Niall OD.
Don’t like the message ,attack the messenger .
I saw a picture of cadets from Templemore with 7 weeks training are being bussed to Dublin. That’s the commissioners plan… people with little to no training and ordering proper guards to work. Not exactly efficient
Commissioner is desperate sending raw recruits on duty. She has to go, the Gardai need a boss who will fight for them and not a government stooge.
Strike will go ahead on Friday government desperate to get it called of false promises once smitten twice shy as the say
Get over it we’ll be grand.
Putting cadets without arrest power on the street without pairing them with someone more experienced is a disaster waiting to happen
Great to see all the austerity measures that were forced on us coming back to bite the Government in the arse, good luck to the Gardai tomorrow.
It’s seems to me that the goverment cannot guarantee the security of its citizens or indeed the state in tomorrow ……….we are a failed state if we have no police on the job
Perhaps the Guards should reconsider their actions then….
Perhaps the government should consider their actions
@Upowthat Burke:
“the government cannot guarantee the security of its citizens tomorrow” ??????
What do you mean tomorrow?
The Government cannot guarantee our security ANY day of the week with the soft as shit Frances Fitzgerald leading the soft as shit judiciary who in turn are being given the run-around by the GREEDY LAWYERS.
The country is Fc*k*d, did you not get the memo?
The fact that the government allowed this to happen when it was completely avoidable means that the current government no longer have any legitimacy.
There needs to be a general election before Christmas.
The Government surely has to call it a day if the strike goes ahead. At this point baring devine intervention it will.
If there’s a strike and people are killed Fitzgerald and Kenny and Owen will either be forced to resign or they’ll be de facto sacked in a no confidence motion
Election now Kenny and his ilk are not fit for purpose. Coveney on the radio today with his 350 houses will start building before Christmas when there are over a thousand Families homeless not counting all the single people who sleep on the Streets.
It’s crazy that the government get money back and the guards don’t. This problem all started with the luas drivers who are paid more than teachers and most gardai… Absolute joke. Do the gardai deserve more money, absolutely. The only thing I ask, is can we afford to pay it, this is aside from the people in Leinster house that are hugely over paid with massive pensions and massive holidays that are as lazy as….
I hope the GRA and AGSI stand their ground, hold out for their just demands, and not listen to the pathetic pleading of this idiotic procrastinating Government.
This government have failed the the citizens of this country.the commissioners position is untenable if this strike goes ahead.
Seriously folks, did anybody really believe that this government and it’s limp wristed leaders would do anything !!!. They will make sure bondholders are secure, bankers are protected, developers are insulated . They couldn’t give a toss about anything other than themselves and looking good in europe. They have destroyed the garda image to utter contempt thanks to their savage cuts and orders . The garda will have to put some serious work in for many years to come in order to gain the trust & respect deserved. Time for an election … Now !!!
Those at the trough care now .. As this will take em away from their beloved trough.. Election please …
Although pay is the issue that is the subject of this dispute it’s not the issue that gardaí have a difficulty with. For example, a commission of investigation is underway into the 1998 blue flu day incident in which attempted bank-robber Ronan MacLochlainn was shot dead by a garda just becaue MacLochlainn’s partner, Gráinne Nic Gibb, won’t accept that MacLochlainn brought it on himself.
Arrrggghh…Typo!
“… it’s not the only issue that gardaí have a difficulty with.
The gubberment this the gubberment that, pull the other one folks these people signed up to their vocation knowing too well what the pay was going to be, zero sympathy for them.
Patrick the FG troll, hi there!
How are things in the ffg camp patrick, still brown nosing I see.
They did. But then the pay was taken away.
Yeah but the pay changed then didn’t it?
Patrick. The Gardai are going on strike to get exactly what you are saying they signed up for. Anyone bar the rawest recruit signed up for pay rates and allowances which are substantially higher than currently received. If TDs can give themselves a substantial pay rise and restore Christmas bonus payments for people who don’t work then they can pay the frontline workers a fair rate or at least show us the master plan for pay restoration and stop kicking the can of fempi down the road
Actually no it’s not that simple.
Many joined way back when pay and cost of living was far better
Many joined pre 08 crash when pay was better and everyone said Ireland was getting richer so they had kids signed mortgages and clocked up some debts for cars etc
Then the biggest recession since the Great Depression hit
What were they meant to do? Put the kids back in the wife’s tummy? Give back the house and go live in parents house again?
Itll be like Christmas tomorrow for the travellers. Batten down the hatches. They’ll take the milk out of your tea tomorrow.
If they government give in to them the landsdown rd deal is dead and with that the government will fall.the commissioner will have to step down if they do go out on strike after ordering them to go to work.
james cullen: Very decent comment there and spot on for saying so. My suggestion here is to pay the Gardai and all public servants an extra allowance for working in all urban areas. Same pay for car tax inspection in rural areas while their colleagues risk their lives in high crime areas. What sort of employment is that supposed to be for equal work and pay?
Does anyone know if some one from the public can get an election called and get rid of Enda and that haphazard group he calls a govt. Let’s face it this govt has let the the people both in the private and public sector down. The Gardai don’t want to so what’s planned for tomorrow but they were promised that their pay would be restored one we wee put of the recession and low and behold the country is doing rely good, gov sources not mine and Enda praised himself for it, but guess what…..broken promises again to the men and women who protect us day in day out all year and then some expect then to take it….well I for one as a member of the public are in their side and so should every one else who relies on the Gardai and beside those who don’t want to abide by the law, is every one living in Ireland from the very young to the very old?
We can call an election anytime we want problem is people know what they don’t want but don’t know what they DO
So we’d get another hung Dail
The President has s little known power to refer bills to referendum if the senate and Dail opposition petition him, we should start using that clause to give us more direct votes on things the Dail is split on
I don’t know if the Gardai involved fully understand the risk they are taking. They do not benefit from the immunity under the Industrial Relations Act 1990 that ordinary strikers benefit from. If someone suffers damages as a result of the strike, the GRA and individual Gardai could be personally liable. They could lose their property and their homes. They could also lose their seniority and livelihood because they have been ordered specifically not to do this.
Another big problem is that they don’t enjoy much support from official unions.
The biggest problem of all is that Gardai are undermining their own moral authority by doing something that is blatantly illegal.
You wouldn’t get a case near a court because that’s such BS They do have support and massive support. Many media outlets have come out against them so have politicians. But…. they don’t talk to their locals like guards do. Massive support out there for our boys in blue.
So a window gets broken in Swords. Which specific guard do you go after, which one do you hold responsible? How can you prove liability / responsibility? There is no law to cover this imaginary scenario, neither criminal nor civil law work that way. Maybe go after the criminal that caused the damage, novel idea I know.
@Paul: Gardai without a trade union and on a wildcat strike do not benefit from the protection that part II the Industrial Relations Act give to legitimate trade unionists. A broken window probably won’t do it, certainly, the damages would have to be a bit bigger. The plaintiff could be an insurer or a person or company who cannot go about their work or trade because the Garda are not available. The plaintiff doesn’t need to go after an individual Garda. The plaintiff can go after AGSI and the GRA. After that the plaintiff can go after the Gardai who were rostered in the local Garda station. It is legally untested waters, certainly, but then no group of law enforcers anywhere in the common law world have ever done anything as stupid or reckless as what the Garda are proposing doing tomorrow.
Eye-c…The Garda withdrawl of labour has NOT got massive support apart from maybe this board which seems to be infested with Garda and Public Servants. Most citizens are appalled at their actions and realise there is a newer hardline breed of ‘me feiners’ within the ranks who seem only to care about the pay and perks and risk the great reputation that the older generation and the ones before that have slowly built with people. Most of the public soundbites I’ve heard on the media are from women or older people and they still don’t believe the Garda will strike.
Pure cods wallop aointin
I read a lot about this today as couldn’t understand why the unions are not being transparent re the real earning power of the Garda.
- there are 180 separate allowances available ranging from a boot allowance to a Gaeltacht allowance
- On an weekly basis, gardaí are the best paid public sector workers by a distance. They earned on average €1,304 per week in the second quarter of this year (or €67,808 on an annual, 52-week basis). That compares with an average of €906 across the entire public sector and €645 across the private sector. This does include significant overtime worked but most people work overtime ? These figure where in the Indo today and based on CSO figures.
- 17,000 people applied for 600 jobs recently so can’t be tat bad ?
- you can retire on a gold plated pension for the rest of your life after 30 years service. This could be early 50s
I didn’t have an opinion before I read all this today but I wouldn’t be inclined to support any increase based on the above as it will be tax payer who will foot any increase.
Where did you get that average from????
Allowance s,….. I see that truck used to shock people by inflating welfare payments and it’s usually flinging things together that no one person has
Do you really think if they were well on their way to 100k a year they’d be striking
From the Central Statistics Office. Perhaps the stats are wrong but I doubt it. The unions’ lack of transparency on earnings and indeed what they are looking for speaks volumes. But this article says it all…
@Brian O’Leary……a gold plated pension huh…..well of after 2 terms as a TD and possibly not even full terms what would you call the life time pension the likes of Mick Wallace will receive then????
http://www.per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/Garda-Pay-and-Allowances.pdf
Allowances for Garda.
And do people actually think that every garda get all those allowances…..? There are allowances named there that don’t actually exsist any more.
The averages are also skewed it’s not very well presented data
Higher salaries and older personnel can skew an average, the people hurting most here are young officers on low wages trying to start a family, get a mortgage etc not the guy 5 years from retirement making 60k
Would tomorrow be a good time to nip across the border and stock up on the heating oil ?
Anyone know the current price per litre in bandit country?
So whats the way forward. Whats a fair outcome outcome for the gaurds. Whsatsva fair outcome for the taxpayer.
Petrol and diesel is more ecpensive up north. Maybe u have friends that are cheaper.
The Brain
Around 43 cents per litre. Garda are not interested in fuel. Its a customs and excise thing
Is the slab Murphy still in jail ( monkey
Can’t believe the Government are even negotiating with this crowd of corrupt gangsters. They won’t be missed. Maybe the proper workers and honest people of this country can share out the money we will save by not having to waste it on this bunch. Strike as long as you like lads. The country will function better without you!!!
Noonan is lining up a suplamentry budget to pay all the public services their increases probably cut the 3euro to the pensioners …. easy pickings they can’t strike
Well it all depends on what the public sector unions want. They haven’t made it clear as to what restoration means. If they want to scrap USC then €4.5bn will have to be found from somewhere, almost 10% of the country’s overall tax take in 2015. If they want to scrap PRD then almost €700m will have to be found from somewhere. If nothing is done with the taxpayer subsidies of DB pensions then that will continue to cost the tax payer €1bn per year. This bill is increasing year on year as pensioners live longer and more retire This €1bn is already budgeted for. Increases to new entrant pay scales will cost the tax payer €xm. Presumably the public sector unions will not want their members paying any of the above as this would negate the benefits so the majority of the burden would fall on other employees presumably. But you won’t hear the unions mention this of course as there is a PR battle to be won.
Maybe put money will br cut elsewhere. Any suggestions.
I seen O’Sullivan and a gang of her Deputies and Assists. on the news there. They are all Guards as well, but they are protecting their assho..s and their big salaries and ignoring the plight of the people at the coal face.
Gardai had their chance to get public support by having blue flu when the water meters were going in. Instead they chose to be govt pals and this is how Edna pays them back.
they are not going on strike, they are withdrawing their labour , which is a basic civil liberty
withdrawl of labour is not the same as going on strike, it is abasic human right. i wouldnt often stand with the force of law and order but you know what haway the lads !!
Daragh Brophy needs to learn how to type fadas. Who’s Ciaran O’Neill?
have your say