After years of trying to affect change, I've decided to run for Dublin City Council (Cabra-Glasnevin). I believe it needs more people with a vision and passion for the future of the city. It's not a decision I've taken lightly & it won't be easy but I believe it's right.
Well, there it is. €1 for a 90-minute fare to travel anywhere in Dublin city and surrounding areas. Over the course of my undergrad, this would have saved me €1600.
Big wins like this don't come very often in Dublin and I can't stress enough just how big a win pedestrianisation of Capel Street is. Everyone who campaigned for it should be very proud!
Last year, I went through 22 planning applications for these eir 'telephone kiosks' which are primarily just advertising units. This week, I made 7 planning enforcement complaints to Dublin City Council and hope to submit several more.
It will cost tens of millions of euro to clean up Dublin City after the riots last night, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said.
(This includes many damaged Garda cars, damaged Luas and damaged bus)
Hundreds if not thousands of on-street parking spaces were closed for the Biden visit this week and the world didn't come to an end. Let's reallocate these spaces for good and enjoy the beautiful vistas again.
Did you know that you can track all public buses in Dublin? This map shows you the location of every bus, where it's going and even if it has USB ports!
Joe Biden is gone and Leinster House is a car park again. Former politicians have lifetime free parking here. The Oireachtas should show some leadership, rip up the tarmac, restore the lawn into biodiverse garden and encourage politicians to use sustainable transport.
Do you have any radical, transformative or quick ideas that could turn Dublin into a more liveable, greener and more sustainable city?
Share them below 👇
Let's reimagine our urban spaces.
Because after all, a more sustainable world is better for everyone 🌱
A man from Ranelagh arrested after the Dublin riots — who was previously convicted for hate crimes in the UK for threatening to blow up an Islamic bookshop and saying ‘all Muslims should be killed’ — insists he was only in the city to get a bag of chips.
Dublin City Council owns this 4400 sq m site beside Clontarf Road station and were leasing it to Westwood gym as an overflow car park for €35k/year. The lease is up and what does DCC want to do? Offer it to them as a car park again for 20 more years. 🤦♂️
Colm McCarthy, who predicted that both the DART and the Luas would be failures, is now predicting that expanding our rail network will be a failure. I'm now more convinced than ever that it will be a roaring success.
Four lanes of traffic in one direction but not enough space for two people to pass safely in the city centre. We need some drastic interventions on these streets.
"There are very few places where one can simply hang out in Dublin city that aren’t transactional. There are no large public squares to relax in that facilitate the simple activity of having a beer or a coffee, where you can watch life go by."
I have written to Minister
@noonan_malcolm
asking for the state to purchase this land and turn it into a national park. This is an excellent opportunity to rewild a popular but ecologically barren area and demonstrate what our landscape should look like.
Fair play to this guy for recognising the great work done by the Greens. That's a decent bus lane and a fully segregated cycle lane right there. Now if Eamon could do something about the cars in the bus lane..
Good news!
@eir
has confirmed that 30 of their old broken phoneboxes will be removed from Dublin city over the coming weeks 🥳 They've given me a list of the ones they will remove. They won't be replaced with new ad displays either.
Last year, Eir gave me a list of 30 old broken phoneboxes that they said they would finally remove. I can confirm that all 30 of them are gone! They didn't even have phones in them anymore and were used for graffiti and illegal dumping.
The owner of this building on George's Street wants to build an enclosed private dining area 100m long and 2.4m wide on the public footpath. This is one of the busiest footpaths in the city and is not even 3m wide. Dublin City Council has to reject this application.
This project began in 2019. It's absolutely ludicrous that it won't be in place by 2025. How are we going to radically transform our society to respond to the climate crisis if it takes us over four years just to buy new ticket machines?
Mobile tickets for trains are finally here! From Tuesday, mobile QR code tickets will be available for all Irish Rail InterCity services. No more having to print and collect tickets at the station! 📱🎟️
Sinn Féin opposes open borders and advocates for a fair, efficient, and enforced immigration system that respects the human rights of those fleeing conflict and persecution.
This is why we have voted against much of the EU migration pact.
@Donnchadhol
Every time I see people talk about a rail line to Dublin Airport, I have to point out that MetroLink is only 20% about the airport. It's 80% about Swords, Santry, Ballymun, Glasnevin, Phibsborough and the city centre. Let's not lose sight of these people.
No city centre street should have this much space for cars. Dublin City Council is drawing up plans to make more space for people on these urban highways. Amiens Street has to be included.
Why have one pole when you can have three poles? Whoever is selling poles to Dublin City Council is making a killing. These tiny things add up to a lot of waste & clutter across the city.
Paschal is a property developer. Paschal plays golf in Rathfarnham and loves greyhound racing. Paschal thinks we should build on public parks. Plenty of greyhound tracks and golf courses to build on, Paschal.
We're running a campaign across radio, TV and social media to get better public transport access to the Dublin Mountains and other leisure areas. Accessing nature shouldn't require car ownership.
I'm so proud today to officially announce, with Minister
@DarraghOBrienTD
, Ireland's eighth and largest national park: Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí. With the Conor Pass as its gateway, our first marine national park will see this iconic place protected for future generations.
3 people arrested for burning down the pub in Ringsend.
Also this week:
5 people arrested over the Sandwith Street fire
2 people arrested for burning down a building in Killarney
1 man arrested for setting fire to a Luas
Keep 'em coming!
College Green & Dame Street has the potential to be a truly amazing public space for the people of Dublin. Not just for special events for tourists. The sooner we pedestrianise it, the better.
The roofs of the bike sheds at Pelletstown station were removed by
@IrishRail
due to "anti-social behaviour". They didn't install lifts here because they kept breaking. Stop trying to solve every problem by taking things away.
Work has started on Bachelor's Walk to widen the narrow footpath on the riverside and build a two-way segregated cycle path. Over the summer, a bus gate will be introduced here to speed up bus journeys.
This is ridiculous. With airport wait times, you wouldn't even save time by flying to Cork. If this ever happens, we should legislate it out of existence. France recently banned short domestic flights where there's good rail alternatives.
I made 15 more of these planning complaints against
@eir
. They mostly focus on the knee-shattering ESB boxes beside the ads which weren't in the planning applications. I found a case from 2013 where the same boxes were installed illegally.. by eir.
Last year, I went through 22 planning applications for these eir 'telephone kiosks' which are primarily just advertising units. This week, I made 7 planning enforcement complaints to Dublin City Council and hope to submit several more.
The difference between the messaging coming out of the UK and Irish governments right now is staggering. We're investing in sustainable transport like never before while the UK is trying to create a more car-dependent society.
"My vision for Dublin would mean children would be able to walk and cycle in their local areas, people would be able to get around the city using active and public transport, and parents wouldn’t have to provide a taxi service"
I don't think I'll get the ad/phone boxes removed but I believe these 'phone kiosks' are an insult to the people of Dublin. They should never have been approved by Dublin City Council and I will be happy to see eir fix all of their honest mistakes.
A parent running against oncoming traffic with two children because a truck driver commandeered the footpath.
This is the result of decades of no parking enforcement by DCC and Gardaí. Selfish and unacceptable.
Don't park on the footpath or you'll push vulnerable pedestrians into traffic.
Disgraceful to see this behaviour. It's rush hour and everyone should get home safely.
Saw this from the bus just now and I'm furious.
@GardaTraffic
@DubCityCouncil
The Road Safety Authority's annual conference is chaired by Ireland's biggest car lobbyist. A man who, just in the last month, objected to lower speed limits and an online system to upload footage of dangerous drivers. You could not make it up.
.
@ConorFaughnan
, Chief Executive, Royal Irish Automobile Club kicks off the RSA Annual Conference at
@RadissonDublin
. This year’s Conference will look at international developments and the benefits of a strategic approach to serious injuries.
#VisionZero
#IrishRoadSafetyWeek
Dublin City Council has approved the City Centre Transport Plan which aims to reduce through traffic in the city centre, speed up public transport and create more space for walking and cycling.
"The owners of the 5-star Westbury Hotel objected to the pedestrianisation of South William Street last year, arguing that the plan would inconvenience its guests". Good. Inconveniencing luxury car drivers is a feature, not a bug.
We're proposing a new traffic management plan for Dublin city centre that prioritises sustainable transport modes and removes through traffic. We want to make the city centre quieter, cleaner, easier to navigate and a more pleasant place to be.
Luas pulls up at Broombridge. Some passengers board the bus waiting at the station, some get on the train arriving at the station and some walk home. It's beautiful when it all works together.
Decades of zero enforcement has led to this kind of brazen illegal parking. Dublin city's current parking enforcement contract expires next year, we need a new strategy focused on eliminating this altogether.
Dublin City Councillors from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and People Before Profit have just voted against a €12m increase in funding for street-cleaning and €2.5m for local communities. Unbelievable decision given the mess the city is in.
Remember Bike Bunkers? They're back! The project had stalled and so the Council commissioned a review.. which told them to just get on with it. The recommendation is to find a contractor and start rolling them out city-wide.
Just this week, a resident in Drumcondra told me she finds it difficult to get around on match days and asked if I could do something about it. My thoughts are with the residents that have to put up with this. Good to finally see some enforcement.
Did you know that
@IrishRail
has started rolling out QR code tickets? Just scan your phone at the gate, no need to collect paper tickets at the station! It will be rolled out fully over the summer.
CEO of Dublin Bus tells the Oireachtas Transport Committee that "Dublin needs to go on a car diet". He points to the lack of priority for buses and illegal usage of bus lanes for the low average network speed of 14kmh.
These new carriages have an open area for bikes. This vastly increases the bike carrying capacity of each train and is much easier to use than the current bike racks.
🎉 The first of 41 new Intercity railcar carriages entered service on the 06:47 Portlaoise to Heuston.
The new carriages, being added to existing trains to boost capacity before extra services later this year, have a multi-purpose area incl tip-up seats and extra bike space.
The cars driving through South William Street here are actually conducting "passive surveillance" and keeping people safe from these musical hooligans.
Irish Rail has received €6.4m in EU funding to examine three big projects:
🚄 Improving Dublin-Cork services
🚃 Doubling track capacity from Connolly to Malahide
⚓ Offshore wind facilities at Rosslare
Hopefully the beginning of three great projects!
We suffered decades of underinvestment in our rail network. Starting from inertia, we'll have to rebuild our rail network for the 21st century. 200 km/h speeds, new lines, electification, dual and quad tracks. Time to get started!
#AllIslandRailReview
Dublin to Brussels over land and sea. A very enjoyable experience and I have lots of ideas on how to improve it. I actually found it much less stressful and more social than flying. Also got a good bit of work done on the way!
Eir has made an application for a new ad/phone box on Mount Street.
@eir
is no longer legally required to provide payphones and it won't make any money from the phone (nor does it have to maintain them). This is nothing but another land grab for ad space.
Last year, I went through 22 planning applications for these eir 'telephone kiosks' which are primarily just advertising units. This week, I made 7 planning enforcement complaints to Dublin City Council and hope to submit several more.
The new W4 orbital bus route is going to be transformative. It will finally connect Blanchardstown, Liffey Valley, Lucan, Citywest & Tallaght together. No more having to go into town and back out! Starts on June 25.
Climate deniers: Dublin Bus are charging electric buses from diesel generators. It's a scam. (Seen by 200k people)
Truth: Bus Éireann are charging 3 buses from hydrogenated vegetable oil for driver training to be ready when chargers become active. (Seen by 1k people)