The "city fathers" of Dublin and Cork are facing difficult decisions in the coming years over how to deal with traffic congestion, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday.
Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Ahern said: "We cannot continue the way we have been where everybody drives from A to B regardless, with no restrictions."
"We must face up to what other cities are dealing [ with], sooner rather than later. If we are serious about emissions and congestion, we cannot continue the way we have been," he said.
"That was all right when we had 500,000 vehicles, but we have 2.5 million now and the number is rising. We have a population of 4.3 million and we have 2.5 million registered vehicles. I am told with certainty by CSO that we will have five million people in 12 years' time.
"If the number of vehicles increases beyond three million, one cannot continue operating with 'no entry' zones, particularly in Dublin and cities such as Cork, which is not much different. These are difficult decisions for the city fathers and they will have to be dealt with as they are being dealt with in other cities."
Mr Ahern noted that 20 years ago the country was working on CSO figures which showed that by 2010 we would have a population of approximately 3.4 million "if we were lucky".
However, we have ended up with a population of 4.3 million, or one million more people, he said.
"Dublin Corporation and other councils worked on the basis that by 2010 we could have one million registered vehicles in this country, and while we are not there yet, we have 2.5 million vehicles," he said.
Asked about congestion charges by the Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, Mr Ahern said there are "many proposals."
"I will talk to my councillors and let Deputy Gilmore talk to his," he said.
Pressed by Mr Gilmore as to whether he meant a congestion charge, Mr Ahern replied: "No, it is not. I said I thought we should consider some of the imaginative proposals other cities operate."
Asked to name examples, he replied: "there is a range of them, such as park and ride facilities."
A spokeswoman for Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said he has "no philosophical objection" to the idea of congestion charges.
However, she said the Minister has no proposals before him currently relating to the introduction of such charges.
She noted Mr Dempsey had said in the past that there would be a need for a proper alternative public transport infrastructure to be in place before any such charge could be considered.
She alluded to the current levels of investment in the Transport 21 programme, which is due to be completed in 2015.