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// Dublin bypasses 'stupid' - Greens

IT WOULD be "immensely stupid" to continue building new bypasses around Dublin unless every car in the State was electrified first, the Green Party transport spokesman Ciarán Cuffe said yesterday.

Mr Cuffe said he could not understand how the National Roads Authority chief executive Fred Barry could argue in favour of more big road projects.

"He said only last week that the economic arguments for building Dublin's eastern bypass and the proposed Leinster outer orbital motorway were immense," Mr Cuffe said.

"I would counter that, unless we electrify every car in the country in advance, building those roads would be immensely stupid as the emissions produced as a result of yet more car journeys would result in taxpayers paying greater fines to Europe."

He was speaking as the Green Party launched its submission to the Government's sustainable transport strategy.

The party wants the Government to fast-track rail projects to help meet EU emissions targets.

It calls for schools, businesses and local authorities to encourage cycling and walking and says that the school curriculum should include cycle training.

It also calls for new bus routes and services in Dublin. Mr Cuffe said that feasibility studies on light rail systems in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford should be completed. He claimed that Ireland could, like Sweden, break our dependence on oil, "but that is not going to happen if we continue down the same path".

Mr Cuffe said he would like to see the Government taking a more active role in developing alternatives to flying, particularly for destinations such as London and Brussels. Asked if the Green Party favoured a congestion charge for Dublin, Mr Cuffe said it was "a blunt instrument" and could not be put in place before alternative forms of transport were provided.
ALISON HEALY
© Irish Times 21.05.08