JUST BUY THE BUSES!

Minister Cullen should quickly grant Dublin Bus’s request for 200 extra buses. This is not rocket science. If we want fewer car journeys to protect the environment and alleviate traffic congestion, the quickest and cheapest way to do it is just to buy the buses for Dublin Bus. This issue about privatisation and what percentage of the routes should be privatised is distracting from the really urgent issue – getting buses on the road.

While south Dublin area had the Luas and the Stillorgan QBC, rapidly developing areas of new housing in Sandyford and Stepaside were being left without a service. It’s important that families moving into these areas are provided with proper public transport – that it’s provided now, and not when the traffic has got to intolerable levels.

It’s not just about Dublin South. All over the Dublin area, families are moving into new houses and apartments. Getting public transport right from the start is important. Rail is wonderful, but it takes time. Buses can be got on the road quickly. Let’s do it.”

Privatised services are going to have to be subsidised anyway. Dublin Bus gets one of the lower subsidies of public transport companies in Europe. All this wrangling about privatising new bus routes is just leading to further delays in gettin buses on the road.

Planning corruption; politicians are not all the same!

Really, really annoyed this morning listening to "Morning Ireland". For years, the Labour Party fought the fight against bad planning, and indeed many of the rezonings currently before the Mahon Tribunal.

However, on the programme this morning concerning the evidence of Tom Kitt to the Mahon Tribunal, in an interview with Trevor Sargent, the question was asked as to ‘why aren’t the parties involved, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael … Labour, paying a price at the polls’.

No Labour Party councillor of the time stands accused of any wrongdoing at the Mahon Tribunal. The Labour Party fought a long, hard war against indiscriminate rezoning on Dublin County Council, and indeed on its successor councils. Indeed, the party was traduced and mocked for being ‘anti-development’ by the very people who now stand before the Tribunal.

It is wholly wrong to say that the Labour Party was in any way involved, implicated, or in any other way associated with wrongdoing in the rezonings that have formed part of the Mahon Tribunal investigations.

There is no possible reason for Labour to ‘pay a price at the polls’ for its stance at this time. My predecessors in this area, Frank Buckley and Eithne Fitzgerald, fought bad planning tooth and nail. By including Labour in this way in this question, Morning Ireland fell perfectly into step with the FF ‘sure, everybody was at it’ strategy of slinging the mud as widely as possible. Many of those facing traffic jams on the M50 and long commutes every day have the bad planning of this time to blame. The politicians who took those decisions are answerable. But the Labour Party is not to blame, stands accused of nothing, and has nothing but the proudest record on this issue.

A Small Thing in the Scheme of Dublin's Transport Problems, but ...

Dublin South Labour candidate, Cllr Aidan Culhane, has expressed disappointment at the decision to turn Luas trams into moving billboards. Entire trams will be available to advertisers to “paint” as they wish, paving the way for corporate coloured Luas trams at a cost of €200,000.

“The Luas has become a symbol of a newer, modern, cosmopolitan Dublin”, said Culhane. “It seems a pity to flog off the elegant looking Luas trams as advertising space. “Even though it’s running less than two years, Dubliners have great pride and affection in their new transport system. Rather than looking to make every last penny from ad revenue, we should be looking to keep the Luas ad-free. I have advertised inside the Luas myself, and I think that there are plenty of opportunites for advertisers to get their message out through ads in the trams at at the stops.”

Cllr Culhane said that the issue was minor in the scheme of Dublin’s transport problems, but stressed that there was a benefit to keeping the existing Luas livery. “The Luas is first and foremost a transport system, it goes without saying, but when you look at London’s red double-deckers or Paris’ art deco Metro signs, public transport does contribute to the identity and image of the city. Do the existing sleek silver vehicles not make more of a statement about how the city sees itself than a Vodafone coloured tube?”

WHY NOT INCREASE THE PRICE OF PETROL?

... and abolish VRT on cars of two litres or under?

Labour Councillor for Dundrum and General Election candidate Aidan Culhane has called on the Government to take a significant step towards addressing the Irish contribution to global warming by abolishing VRT and increasing excise duties on petrol.

Councillor Culhane said:

“As the latest Kyoto emissions table shows, the FF/PD Government has failed to address what is probably the single most serious issue facing us. It is time to end this paralysis.

I am suggesting that we take a sensible, practical and radical move that changes the way we are incentivised to use motor vehicles. What we need to do primarily is not to penalise the ownership of cars, but to penalise the ownership of high emission vehicles like SUVs and the overuse of cars in general. In short, we should reduce VRT and increase petrol prices in such a way as to seek to neutralise its impact on Government revenue, fears of which have probably acted as the greatest disincentive to change in the past.

Based on 2005 AND 2004 figures, I estimate that a 14c increase in excise duties on diesel and petrol would allow for the abolition of VRT on cars with an engine capacity of under two litres.

The abolition of VRT while conferring an immediate advantage on people buying new cars would also feed its way into the prices paid for second hand cars, thereby conferring an advantage an all users. The move would also increase the price differential between large engined vehicles and small vehicles similar to how the motor taxation system already works. To incentive the use of more fuel efficient vehicles they too could be exempted from VRT.”