Dublin South-Central Green Party

There are two types of people in Ireland. One type is Gaelic and Ulster-Scots, religious, traditional and insular – our way or no way. Second type is people who want a progressive modern republic taking advantage of new ideas and thought. Some political parties are into opaque politics, ‘Whatever you’re having yourself’.

Minister of State for Rural Affairs and Natural Resource, Seán Canney TD, Independent TD, opened the 2018 Atlantic Ireland Conference at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road last week. Included in his speech are the lines “Let me turn to the Climate Emergency Measures Bill, which proposes, in effect, to stop future oil and gas licensing offshore Ireland. Whilst no doubt well-intentioned, the Bill will do nothing to reduce our use of oil or gas, it will do nothing to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and it will do nothing to help us meet our 2020 and 2030 energy and climate targets. Instead, it proposes simply to bind us to only importing our future oil or gas needs.” Sounds old-style Fianna Fail. Read his speech in full here.

Just what is this Fine Gael/’Old Men’ government doing to prepare Ireland for the future? Why not look at developments outside the ‘door’? Whatever about Climate Change/ Species Extinction/ New Technology some people would rather keep to old dirty polluting ideas – hear nothing, see nothing, do nothing!

Eight days earlier, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates joined over 50 leaders committed to circular economy impact by joining the Platform for  Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE). PACE is fast-tracking circular economy solutions to pressing environmental challenges, from electronic waste to plastic pollution. An immediate  response is to consider the end use of every item one purchases – is it re-usable, recyclable, resalable, adaptable, easy to dismantle? Do I really need it?

China leapfrogged from the bicycle age to the automobile age in just 20 years. Before 1994, most people in China were still getting around on bicycles. Fast forward 15 years, and China had dislodged the U.S. to become the world’s largest car market – with 13.6 million in unit sales per year. Now, China’s automotive market is leapfrogging into to the age of the electric vehicle. By 2015, there were more than 20 different models of EVs being sold in China.  Last year, over 777,000 EVs were sold in China. That was a 53 percent jump from the previous year. Overall, China now accounts for two-thirds of global sales of EVs. (By comparison, Europe is behind but manufacturers are slowly catching up. Ireland with 0.3% of China population,  a grand total of 1811 BEVs (new and used) registered so far this year, and we could reach 2000 units by the end of the year, % are similar to China.) courtesy Irish EV Owners

The Chinese government wants electric vehicles to account for 10 percent of total vehicle sales in the country by 2020, and 20 percent by 2025.  (Like Fine Gae aspire to, but what is the Government of Ireland doing to match EU targets?) This network will include up to 500,000 public charging stations and cover residential areas, business districts, public spaces and inter-city highways. As of last year, China already had 214,000 charging stations installed. That was an increase of 51 percent from 2016. So they’re on track to reach their goal.

(ESB have about 800 slowish (1 hour to overnight) charge points (not stations). On-street 22Kw dual point (max 80 miles of range per hour) which they may upgrade to add to 70 public Fast Charging points (43Kw, advertised as 20-60+ minutes to 80% depending on state and size of battery capacity – time for coffee/lunch/rest/shopping/toilet break). Not as fast as the best, nor the exclusive 120Kw Superchargers (off-street, multi point, 24/7) for Tesla EVs, 150miles per 30 minutes! The largest Tesla Supercharger station in Nebbenes, Norway has 30 charging points now, and will have 44, Superchargers; a single charging station with almost as many points as Ireland in a country with a population of 5.2 million people!

The Chinese government will also require new residential complexes to build charging points or assign space for them. At least 10 percent of public parking will need to have charging facilities. In 2016, China’s Traffic Management Bureau introduced “green license plates” to differentiate EVs from normal petrol-powered vehicles. Cars with these green license plates enjoy preferential policies. These include exemptions from measures that ban the use of cars to one day each week. In some selected cities, green license plate vehicles can use the bus lane during rush hour. Probably the most effective support for EVs is the vehicle quota system. It was implemented in heavily congested cities in 2011. Not everyone who wants a petrol/diesel-powered car in China can just buy one and start driving it. In Beijing, for instance, the government is limiting the number of new petrol-powered cars to hit the streets to just 40,000 a year.

This dissuades consumers from buying a petrol-fuelled car and encourages them to buy an electric vehicle instead. EVs have a much higher quota (and sometimes no quota at all) than petrol-fuelled cars. And of course, government-backed discounts can be as much as 40 percent of the sticker price. With such strong government support, a booming network of charging stations and competitive prices, it’s almost a certainty that EV sales in China will continue to soar. (China is a major vehicle manufacturer, in addition to being an importer.)

Article courtesy of Asia Wealth Investment

So the message, as progressive Europeans are doing in droves:

Think and Vote GREEN Party

Harold’s Cross. Between the A and F spines, an additional radial is needed solely to serve the segment of Harold’s Cross Road between Harold’s Cross and Terenure. Route 16 is retained for this purpose, operating every 20 minutes all day and every 10 minutes at peak times. Beyond Terenure this route resembles the current 15b route to Stocking Ave.
Kimmage, Perrystown, Greenhills. The F spine, branching at Kimmage, provides direct city service to most of these areas, supplemented by one branch of the D spine. Note that the F1 and F2 provide 15 minutes service when together, 30 when apart (10 minutes and 20 minutes respectively at peak times). This area currently has a range of frequencies in the 15-30 minute range. We standardise these to 15 or 30, with 15 minute
service focused on the places of highest demand.
Kildare Road, Clogher Road, Donore Ave. This segment of today’s Route 150 has relatively low demand, and parts of its service area can also walk to the D spine or the new orbital Line O. A half-hourly radial, Route 20, is proposed. The route continues to Tallaght.
Crumlin Road, Cork St. The D spine replaces the three main overlapping routes (27, 77a, 151) on this segment, to deliver a consistent 5 minute frequency out to Crumlin Hospital. From there, the main branches are D2 toward Tallaght (like existing 27) and D3 toward Clondalkin, both every 15 minutes. A small branch D4, every 30 minutes, assists in covering parts of Perrystown.
Kilmainham, Rialto, Inchicore, Islandbridge. This is a very complex area where the street pattern and natural barriers defeat all reasonable routing schemes. We sought to reduce the tangle of current routes to create simple frequent patterns, even if people had to walk slightly further to them. The G Spine, every 7.5 minutes, follows Emmet Road through this area, like existing Route 40. The addition of the orbital Line O and Route S2 provide frequent service to Rialto and the area west of St. James’ Hospital, replacing the need for today’s Route 123. Instead, a new Route 22 would serve the area west of Suir, but then continuing north via Islandbridge to Heuston and the northern edge of the city centre.
Three short segments in this area currently receive bus service along Mourne Road, Keeper Road, and a portion of South Circular Road, but all are within easy walking distance of Luas or other frequent routes in the proposed network.

Housing: We are in favour of the cost-rental model for immediate housing in the Inchicore and across Ireland, where people can work, rest & play, close to family and friends. Large, friendly, low-level apartments with amenities. Cost of buying means young working families from the area need years of saving to buy city homes, so instead buy in Laois and commute for hours each day which negates every ‘better life policy’. The existing Red Luas line (Tallaght to The Point) allows easy access to good jobs in James’s, manufacturing, hospitality and retail. The shops, museums, cafes, the schools and sports clubs need young people living in the neighbourhood to create a vibrant society.

Finally, we ask you to support the Uplift campaign Stop putting down concrete and gravel – start planting NATIVE species!! 

Congratulations and welcome to Councillor Patrick Costello who will contest the Kimmage-Rathmines Ward in the forthcoming local elections.

DSC Green Party broadly welcomes the report on future plans for Dublin Bus, pedestrians and cycle routes called the Dublin Core Bus Corridor project. However at times this reads like another report in 50 years of reports by the “more-roads lobby” suggesting the removal of some “pinch-points” by directing other traffic onto other roads, new roads, residential “ratruns” or by road-widening. Cheap short-term solutions like restricting the access of private cars to certain areas at certain times, (as is happening in cities across the world) and longer term solutions in building  ‘cut & cover’ comuter rail and increasing population density in the city making personal ownership of cars unnecessary and encouraging walking, cycling and car-sharing and taxis are not covered.  What % of car-drivers commute from outside Dublin Bus catchment areas? Will Dublin Bus provide free, secure parking beside bus termini? A silo report for a city of silo reports!

Download the PDF report with route maps here: Bus Connects Dublin Bus Corridor Project June 2018

Routes affected within the constituency and problems highlighted are:

6 – Lucan to Stoneybatter along the bypass to Houston Station – new priority bus lanes over M50

7 – Liffey Vally via Ballyfermot, Inchicore, Kilmainham, The Liberties – As Ballyfermot Road between Le Fanu Road and Kylemore Road is too narrow, one option would be to divert inbound traffic via Le Fanu Road and Kylemore Road. Mount Brown and Old Kilmainham Road are too narrow for both bus lanes and general traffic lanes. Mount Brown would therefore be restricted to public transport, cyclists and local access. Through traffic would have to be diverted via the Liffey quays or South Circular Road.

8 – Clondalkin to Drimnagh – Bus lanes could be accommodated at the M50 underpass by routing cyclists on to the Grand Canal greenway.

9 – Greenhills to city centre – New link roads would be built to divert all traffic via Calmount Avenue and Calmount Road while maintaining access to the old section of Greenhills Road.

10 – Kimmage to city centre – Kimmage Road Lower between Sundrive Road and Harold’s Cross would be limited to buses, bicycles and taxis. Through traffic would be diverted via Larkfield Park and Harold’s Cross Road or via Sundrive Road and Clogher Road.

11 – Tallaght to Terenure – Templeogue Road would become one-way outbound for general traffic while permitting taxis, buses and bicycles to travel in both directions. Inbound general traffic would divert via Cypress Grove Road or via Springfield Road to Rathfarnham Road.

Have your say at the public consultation in September / October this year. Or speak to Ed or Oisin.