Sir, – SÃíle UÃí Laighin raises concerns relating to the proposal to pedestrianise part of College Green and limit access to public transport, going so far as to call the plan "daft" (April 18th).
Ms Uí Laighin incorrectly states that there will be a “complete closure of College Green to buses”. In fact, north-south bus routes will continue to use College Green, while east-west bus routes will be rerouted in a sensible fashion to other streets, including some changes to traffic flow and extra bus lanes where necessary. This is outlined in Dublin City Council’s public consultation document.
While I acknowledge that the bold changes proposed in this document need to be carefully considered in order to work effectively, I believe, as a citizen of Dublin, that this proposal is both critical and long overdue. College Green is the city’s premier public space. The quality of the architecture is such that moving through this space should be an unmitigated joy. At the moment it is far from joyful, as it is a cluttered mess of traffic signs and street furniture, accompanied by the persistent din of hundreds of buses and taxis an hour.
It is hard to overstate the transformative effect pedestrianising this space will have on Dublin.
People will finally feel invited to linger and admire the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College buildings, along with the other fine examples of 19th-century commercial architecture on College Green. We should celebrate this space and collection of buildings to the fullest extent possible, and the current proposal does just that. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN WALL, MRIAI
Dublin 2.