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A GROUP OF activists blocked off a section of Lower Liffey Street today, declaring it a “clean-air zone” as part of a campaign to pedestrianise more areas of Dublin City.
The occupation was organised as part of the Streets Are for People movement, which involves members of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, Dublin Commuter Coalition, the Irish Pedestrian Network and Extinction Rebellion.
Green Party councillor Neasa Hourigan, one of the organisers of the event, said there is already a proposal before Dublin City Council to pedestrianise this section of the street. The council is due to vote on the proposal on Monday.
“There’s only 1,000 cars that go down this street every day,” she said.
“It would be a prime area to carve out for some kind of low emissions zone so that people with kids, people who want to go have a sandwich, have safe climate-friendly place to be.”
In July, the same activists blocked off Dublin’s South William Street from traffic, a day Hourigan described as “hugely successful”.
She said the groups plan to occupy a number of other streets across the city in the future as part of the campaign.
“We’re not trying to close down the city to all cars, we’re just trying to show what’s possible and show what spaces should be pedestrianised, should be better for people and more accessible – places to rest, places that are just that bit further away from congestion,” she said.
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A lot of towns and cities created pedestrian areas which after business hours when footfall drops become uninviting and a little fearful. The lack of passing traffic creates areas for antisocial behaviour and drugs just like the boardwalk on Dublin’s liffey and in Waterford the entire city centre, you try and avoid it at night.
@The long walk home☘️: funny how that doesn’t happen in other countries.
@Brendan Cooney: Nothing funny about it at all, it’s called good policing and the local authority taking responsibility, instead of ignoring the rampant anti social behaviour that occurs in this country.
@Brendan Cooney: he’s making it up
The cars are the only thing that keeps the junkies off this street. They already have the boardwalk across the road.
@Mick paisley: oh yeah I always see grafton street covered with junkies
@Conchuir: not quite like for like, is it?
@Conchuir: Totally different, Grafton Street is full of high end shops. Liffey Street and surrounding area is run down, dreary, and is full of junkies. That said, I did see someone shooting up just off Grafton Street about 2 months ago.
@Conchuir: The link below is just off liffey Street,
https://maps.app.goo.gl/KKAkXQzheepCoUzt6
@Conchuir: With the exception of BT, M&S and maybe one or two others, Grafton St is piss poor!
@Conchuir: look again then….
@Mick paisley: Mick, think it through a bit. Why do you think Grafton St is full of high end shops? Because it has been pedestrianised of course. Who wants to shop surrounded by toxic fumes and traffic noise.
@Seán Ó hÓgáin: Henry Street is pedestrianised, and its a dump.
@Mick paisley: It’s a thriving retail street, with Arnotts, M&S and others putting huge money to retain their futures on that street.
Where were the Gardaí? People blocking the installation of water meters weren’t treated so lightly.
@Henry Gaynor: Yeah, the Gardai came along to deal with a few idiots who abused the protestors.
@Seán Ó hÓgáin: FFS unbelievable
@Elizabeth Sheehan O’Reilly: I know, Elizabeth – unbelievable that there are idiots out there who abuse people trying to make the air cleaner and the environment safer.
Maybe they should think before they call for certain roads to be pedestrianised.. Liffey Street needs to be open to traffic as cars need to exit onto the Quays coming from Abbey Stret, Arnotts and it’s the only route to Jervis Street from O’Connell Street. The rest of the surrounding streets are blocked off because of the Luas and Henry Street is already closed to traffic. Unfortunately we can’t close the City Centre to suit the Hipsters and Hippies..
@David Garland: Cars can use Strand Street as they did today. Even the hippies and hipsters know that…
@Barry Meehan: So they’re looking to pedestrianise 50 feet of a road so, and for what.. More room for the local junkies to walk around half dead..
@Barry Meehan: but is that not just pushing the problem around? I would imaging that most private cars on that route are coming out of Arnotts? Its hardly a huge thoroughfare otherwise because of all of the other restrictions in that area.
@pZTahAXy: Liffey St today is used by 1,000 vehicles (average occupancy rate is 1.2 in the city, so that’s 1200 people) and 30,000 pedestrians: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/new-plaza-proposed-for-north-side-of-ha-penny-bridge-1.3788656
Tell me again why you think 3% of the users should get 90% of the space?
First they were hugging trees now they want to cut them down then it was diesel over petroleum now it’s get rid of diesel
@Johnny Comelately: The only people who want to cut down trees are those who insist on retaining road space for drivers driving round in vehicles that are 80% empty (private cars).
Well done. Get cars out of the city.
@Aodhán Éire: we will have to cut down all the trees instead so for bus and bike lanes, in order that we can be sure and offer a viable alternative.
@Aodhán Éire: What about people who need them or do they not count?
@pZTahAXy: Mainly the trees targeted are for the cycling lanes
@pZTahAXy: I love how those driving big gas guzzling SUVs develop a sudden concern for the environment when it comes to trees.
@Aodhán Éire: that’s such short sightedness. What are you going to tell people who can’t cycle? Or who don’t live near a public transport stop? Or who work late at night?
Cars make the city accessible to so many people who otherwise would not be able to access it.
@pZTahAXy: Not if street parking is abolished.
Streets are for travel, not for storing property.
If you need to use a vehicle, have somewhere off road to store it when not in use.
No need to remove trees, just the parking meters, clampers, provide more bus stops, taxi ranks, drop offs, continuous bike lanes, & impound any unattended vehicles off the streets. Shift goods & services traffic off peak by rates remissions. Thus more road space for more efficient public transport, & a more practical option for all.
Quite a simple change of culture, & not expensive to achieve.
@Aodhán Éire: and lose all businesses there
@Gary Kearney: Wrong Gary, the trees are targeted to retain space for private cars with 1.2 occupancy rates – four out of five of them driving round with four empty seats.
Dont know how that work as arnotts car park exit is that road
@Derrick Ó Súilleabháin: exactly what I was thinking but muppets like them don’t worry about things like that!
@Jonathan Ryan: its only a small section they’re blocking, forcing vehicles down unsuitable lanes and side streets but sure leave them off they have their agenda.
@Ian Breathnach: Maybe it’s not the side streets and lanes that are unsuitable, Ian. Maybe it’s the large vehicles and particularly the 4×4 SUVs used for normal suburban driving that are unsuitable?
@Derrick Ó Súilleabháin: Cars coming from arnotts can use Strand Street to get down to the quays. It’s only the bottom half that’s being pedestrianised.
@Ian Breathnach: yeah, them and their clean air , children not having asthma, and local businesses making a profit. What a dreadful agenda.
@Seán Ó hÓgáin: well have you ever been down North Lotts, a cobbled lane barely suitable for walking yet alone drive. Until there is sufficient investment in the city’s infrastructure nothing will change.
@Ian Breathnach: Wrong again, it’s going to change on Monday, when the Council votes to pedestrianise Liffey St
Pathetic. The car whether we like it or not is essential to people commuting to Dublin given the long travelling times due to insane house prices forcing people out so far from the capital and the lack of public transport. But these things don’t register with affluence trust fund kids who don’t have such economic issues to consider.
@Valthebear: funny that. People like you seem to change the profile of these protestors on a very regular basis. Last week they were down-and-outs with no money. The week before they were unemployed smelly hippies employed (yeah, the irony…) to protest as a rent-a-mob, yet with the latest in fashionable clothing and too much time to spend on their appearance and presentation. Now suddenly they are affluent trust fund kids, despite the fact the vast majority are gainfully employed. Amazing how you clowns can’t seem to agree on who they are. It’s almost as if you’re talking through your holes and haven’t a clue who these people are because, you know, talking to them would mean having to leave the safety of your keyboard.
@Valthebear: As a blue badge holder , I need to be able to park as close to shops/ businesses as possible . Pedestrianizing streets isn’t always the answer .
@Bríd Uí Mhaoluala: Oh they are moving the parking spaces a fair distance away and the DCC see no issue with this
@Bríd Uí Mhaoluala:
No one is proposing the mass pedestrianisation of Dublin city. its one tiny tiny street that very few cars use. Blue badge holders are usually the first people accomodated in any streetscape redevelopment. Providing a space where pedestrians can be free from car traffic can open up many opportunities for communities and business to thrive. You only have to glance at almost any other european city to know this.
@Valthebear: the next recession will take out a lot of the present traffic, not long now
More power to them!
Imagine if motorists blocked pedestrians and lycra clad?
@Rodney Williams: fight back now block cycle lanes at rush hour
@Rodney Williams: fight back now block cycle lanes at rush hour
@Rodney Williams: fight back now block cycle lanes at rush hour
@Rodney Williams: We don’t have to imagine Rodney. Go into the city any day except Sunday and you’ll see motorists blocking pedestrians and cyclists – parking on pavements and cycle lanes, blocking up junctions. It’s happening every day, but some people are too self-centred to notice.
@Rodney Williams: they do. Every day. And kill them too.
@Johnny Comelately: You mean something like this stuff that happens every day Johnny? https://twitter.com/search?f=images&vertical=default&q=%23freethecyclelanes&src=typd
@Johnny Comelately: Too late. That’s done every single day.
@Seán Ó hÓgáin: Same with cyclists breaking the rules everyday. Nobody id perfect in regards to road behaviour.
@Rodney Williams: ever hear of traffic congestion? Cars clogging up and poisoning the cities? No?
@Rodney Williams: They’d probably get their s***e knocked in due to being unfit
@Johnny Comelately:
Can we arrange a rake of cars?
@Rodney Williams: they do that every day during rush hour.
@Gary Kearney: That’s true Gary, cyclists do break rules every day and aren’t perfect in road behaviour. The main difference between rule breaking cyclists and rule breaking motorists is that rule breaking cyclists don’t kill 2 or 3 people each week.
Muppets
They look so angry. All this hate can’t be good for them.
@A Pop Fan’s Dream: I didn’t see much ‘anger’ in any of the photos I saw. The only anger was some idiot driver shouting about road tax. What anger did you see? https://twitter.com/e_slat/status/1167758055100035073
So are cyclists going to pay road tax and insurance because some of them think they own the roads and footpaths and are just as dangerous as car drivers
@nelliekel: no one pays road tax. There is no road tax. Motor tax exists for vehicles with… motors. Most people who own bikes also own cars. But cycling on paths is a really annoying thing.
@nelliekel: ‘Just as dangerous as car drivers’? Eh no. Take a look at road traffic safety statistics. Motorists have killed more than 4,000 on the roads in the past 17 years. Cyclists have killed zero people over that time. How does zero deaths become ‘just as dangerous’ as 4,000 deaths?
All the good it will do.
Surely it would make more sense to block a different street off instead of one that’s gonna be pedestrianised anyway, the votes on Monday and from what I hear its a shoe in
@Bopper Bops Holland: Same here a total show in but then they can claim it was them that got it through not the work going on for months in the background.
How many of them went to Waterford and checked out the architects other work in urban planning and design.
@Bopper Bops Holland: correction it’s a WALK IN
Well done putting people out of work and eventually making them homeless hope these people will sleep well in there beds when they make people homeless
@regina hollingsworth: bit of a stretch there. Putting people out of work and making them homeless? Firstly it’s a tiny stretch of road and secondly pedestrianiaation brings increased foot fall and increased business every where it’s been done. Relax the cax
@James Wallace: pedestrianisation even
@James Wallace: no it’s not I go town every week by car cos I buy all the my shopping there which I couldn’t carry by foot or public transport and I’m not the only one who does that if we are stopped what happens to the shops they close these people will leave us with no city centre which makes me sad and angry
@regina hollingsworth: regina, i find your ‘story’ that you drive from where ever you live to park in town and do a grocery shop a tad unusual to say the least..but hey, you do you. Pedestrianisation of certain areas of dublin is considered by many to be giving us a city centre and not taking one away. You shouldnt think of the city as being less accessible to person(s) in cars but rather more accessible to people in general. Given the surge of green thinking councillors elected in the may elections i would imagine there are many more people excited at the prospect of thriving business friendly pedestrian spaces. I know i am :)
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: then you are the only one cos I don’t know anyone happy about this and what is wrong with shopping in the city centre
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: anyway if you want to walk go to the beach or a park City Centre is not for walking it’s for shopping and if you buy a lot you need a car.
@regina hollingsworth: I suppose we must move in different circles. I just find it would be more awkward to go to the city for a grocery shop when you probably pass a number of supermarkets with parking on the way. Once every now and then it might be handy to have your car in the city for buying bulky items like duvets, towels but they are not weekly purchases.
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: not from where I live the city centre supermarkets would be my local I don’t pass any supermarkets on my way into town so I need my car to shop
@regina hollingsworth: Retailers generally do very well in pedestrianised areas, Regina. That’s why Grafton St has the most expensive rents in the city. Here’s how it worked out in Madrid. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/03/08/closing-central-madrid-to-cars-resulted-in-9-5-boost-to-retail-spending-finds-bank-analysis/ Is Liffey St absolutely essential to your weekly drives into town to do your grocery shopping, or do you think that maybe you could find an alternative route?
@Seán Ó hÓgáin: why should I find an alternative route
@regina hollingsworth: where’s theres a will there’s a way Regina. Those city centre supermarkets need your business otherwise all the workers will be homeless, remember? Sarcasm aside, I would urge you to rethink your stance. Grafton St has already been mentioned and there were plenty of people prior to it’s pedestrianisation that couldn’t even contemplate how it could possibly be a good thing.
I use Dublin parks all the time for fresh air. I am not going to the city centre for exercise, I like go into town to buy bits and bobs, look around, have a coffee/lunch and a general meander. When cities are pleasant places people feel like hanging around and hanging around is good for businesses.
@Brigid Ní Raghallaigh: they ruined Grafton street I actually don’t know anyone who goes to Grafton Street and I don’t want the same for What’s left in the city centre
Who the hell do these people think they are to be deciding what is and isn’t public policy. Nobody elected them. Nobody gave them a mandate.
@Ronan Fahy: You’ve heard of the idea of public protests before, Ronan, right? This isn’t the first protest, and it won’t be the last.
Maybe protest for better public transport and cycle lanes before more pedestrian streets?
@David Lafferty FCCA: Maybe they’ve already been doing that for the past 20 or 30 years or so?
How about blocking streets off from the bloody cyclists. They’re the real nuisances
@Eric Byrne: It’s not cyclists that are killing two or three people each week on the road, Eric.
Footpaths are for people.
The Death of Dublin City Centre draws closer! If pedestrianisation is so good, why did it fail soo badly in Dun Laoire!???
@Fred Coloe: Yea, look at the tumbleweed blowing down Grafton St. Oh wait a minute.
Madrid got a 10% uplift in retail spending through pedestrianising the city centre in recent years.
If you want clean air, move to the country. Don’t expect Dublin to change
@Gus Sheridan: We have 1500+ premature deaths each year due to poor air quality in Ireland Gus. It IS going to change.
Probably p*ssed off that they don’t have cars of their own? I suppose if roads are pedestrianized it will make it more difficult for squad cars and Black Marias to catch their mates…
@Paul Shepherd: it’s organised by cyclists who are convinced rules of road don’t apply to them pay they will nearly knock pedestrian over at traffic lights and crossing no road tax or insurance
@nelliekel: could you repeat that in English. Oh, and road tax does not exist.
@Paul Shepherd: haw has haw what a funny man you are..The exceptional comments committee will be in touch to arrange the trophy engraving. Incidentally cycling commuters earn more on average than their driving commuter counterparts.
@Paul Shepherd: Black Marias ? Are you a time traveller?
@Paul Shepherd: It’s amazing how petty and small minded some people can be in resisting positive social change.
Every pedestrianised Street in Ireland came up against the same objections. It not like they are not going to have alternative routes in place before closing the roads.
Morons
The Liffey street development does all ot the things asked and goes to council next week and should be passed. A few hiccups in the design but that is DCC planners and tnot the people who designed it they did a great job.
Wow, Jim. You’re not much of a futurist for a tech reviewer, are you? These initiatives are a benefit to 99% of people and you come on here and insult their efforts? Get a better hobby please.
This demonstration was well thought out and the car drivers were not inconvenienced because the detour provided was 30 seconds around the corner.
Disgraceful. If motorists were to colonise a pedestrian area they would be traced through their registration and would end up on court, fined, or towed away. Most motorists don’t voluntarily drive in town for the sake of it. They need to be there. And they pay plenty of tax, VAT, VRT etc for the privilege. Time for drivers to claim back the roads.
@Elizabeth Sheehan O’Reilly: Really Elizabeth? Did all these motorists get fined, towed or end up in Court? https://twitter.com/DublinBlockers Sadly no.
Motorists pay nothing near the true costs of motorist. The freeloading motorists are being subsidised by the rest of society. Look at all that public road space in the suburbs given over to storage of private property. Look at the 1500+ premature deaths each year due to air quality.
Time for drivers to stop killing our planet please.
ha ha ha
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