Traffic chaos in and around Dublin will worsen in the coming years under new planning proposals for the capital and its hinterland, the Green Party claimed today.
European Parliament candidate for Dublin, Ms Patricia McKenna, said the plan would lead to the rest of the country acting as a supply-base for an "eastern conurbation".
She also questioned whether the draft Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin area are in line with the National Spatial Strategy (NSS).
"Dublin is following neither the example of Berlin nor Boston but is becoming more akin to Bangkok where people arrange their lives around the endless traffic jams that dominate that city," the Green MEP said.
The guidelines were prepared by the Dublin and Mid East Regional Authorities in conjunction with the Department for the Environment and are due before Government shortly.
While they make extensive reference to the NSS, the guidelines indicate a need for "increased emphasis on the concentration of future development into the metropolitan area and in designated development centres, located on transportation corridors in the hinterland area".
Ms McKenna said such a policy was contrary to the NSS requirement that new investment be concentrated in gateways and hubs around Ireland.
She said Ireland is the most car-dependent country in the world because of the over-emphasis on road provision at the expense of public transport investment.
"If we continue to spend four times as much on roads as we do on public transport very soon we will have created a car-based transport system that will be impossible to reverse," she said.
The areas covered by the guidelines are counties Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.