I wish to raise the issue of the serious traffic problems in Dublin and the inadequate administrative arrangements to deal with them. Traffic problems in Dublin are acute and worsening. The Government established the Dublin Transportation Initiative to examine this matter. Its final report was expected last October but it has not yet been published. Many decisions are being put on the long finger.
The Dublin Corporation Traffic Committee under my chairmanship drew up a comprehensive traffic management policy plan for a 12 month period and finally adopted it a year ago. This plan requested the Government to make several administrative and legislative changes. Decisions on those many proposals have been delayed by the Government pending the finalisation of the report of the Dublin Transportation Initiative, which has also been delayed following the decrease in the allocation of Cohesion Funds from more than £8 billion to less than £7 billion. The administrative and legislative changes which I call for do not require the allocation of Cohesion Funds.
We all agree that traffic law enforcement in Dublin is wholly inadequate. Responsibility for this rests with the Garda who inevitably give traffic law enforcement a lower priority than the prevention and fighting of crime. A measure of this position is evident in that only 23 per cent of all traffic fines imposed are collected. Half the summonses issued are never served and fewer than half those served are brought to a successful conclusion. As a result a great many drivers ignore traffic laws and, consequently, Dublin is choked with traffic. The inadequate provisions are possibly costing the State in income for fines and parking foregone as much as £20 million per annum which would pay several times over for the 300 traffic police corps I propose for Dublin.
At a time of high unemployment it would make sense to create 300 jobs, especially when the public finances would be a net beneficiary. There are additional advantages. It would release gardaí from traffic duties and allow them more time to fight crime and improve the economic environment for job creation in Dublin. The Dublin Chamber of Commerce stated that traffic congestion is doing more to withhold investment than the imposition of taxes. The problem is that a single person or body is not in charge of Dublin traffic. The corporation and the county councils are responsible for traffic management implementation but the Garda Commissioner is the traffic authority responsible for the enforcement of traffic regulations. The Department of Justice is responsible for traffic wardens, unlike other local authorities who have retained that function. The Department of the Environment is the ultimate road and road traffic management authority and the transport authority has responsibility for transport. There is no co-ordinated traffic management system in Dublin.
A five point plan is urgently needed for Dublin City. Dublin Corporation should replace the Garda Commissioner as the traffic authority to merge traffic management with traffic enforcement regulations. A special 300 man traffic police corps should be established under Dublin Corporation which would have responsibility for the traffic warden service. Responsibility for tow-away services, now the responsibility of the Garda, should be transferred back to the corporation and privatised and the inner city should be divided into three contract areas. Provision should be made for an increase in the number of multi-storey car parks in the inner city by means of joint venture between Dublin Corporation and the commercial sector and there should be a parallel reduction in the number of on-street parking places. All the administrative and legislative changes requested by the traffic committee of Dublin Corporation should be implemented as soon as possible.
There is a widespread feeling among Dubliners that Dublin did not get its fair share of European funds. It would be wrong if key transport issues, such as the port access route and a light rail system interconnecting with the DART, were cancelled or deferred because of the Government's mishandling of the Cohesion Funds. There is no excuse for further delay in acceding to the corporation's request for urgent administrative and legislative changes to the congested traffic problem in Dublin.
