A rub with the Greens

The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has launched a blistering attack on the Green Party following its criticism of Dublin City Council’s HGV traffic management plan, which is due to be implemented when the Dublin Port Tunnel opens next year.

IRHA Press Officer, Jimmy Quinn

The Green Party’s spokesman on transport Eamon Ryan TD recently criticised Dublin City Council’s HGV traffic management plan, which is due to be introduced next year when the Dublin Port Tunnel finally opens for business.
Ryan highlighted a number of “inadequacies” in the plan and claimed that Dublin City Council had watered down earlier proposals that would have seen stringent restrictions placed on HGVs operating in the city.

Deputy Ryan said: “Safety on our city centre streets is paramount. The port tunnel was sold on the promise that it would free the city centre of heavy goods vehicles, with the hefty price tag of Eu750 million of taxpayers’ money.”
“But now, despite the increasing number of pedestrian deaths in Dublin, the City Council is relaxing those very restrictions which aim to keep large trucks and other inappropriate vehicles off our city centre streets. It would appear that Dublin City Council is pandering to the interests of a small number of companies rather than trying to save peoples lives. “

A public consultation process on the strategy was launched in May 2004 and proposed restricting all truck movements inside the Canal cordon. “But key aspects of this plan have now being watered down in three main ways. Vehicles with up to four axles will still be permitted access to the city centre at all times for a further four years; trucks which are too high for the port tunnel will be allowed into the city centre for up to another year and a half; and a new permit system for established industries will allow even the largest HGV access to the city centre,” Ryan revealed.

He added: “Irish business has had over ten years to prepare for the opening of this tunnel. They do not need another five years to adapt their fleets to the new regime. These restrictions will have very little impact. The reality is that we are still going to have large numbers of trucks in the city centre even after the port tunnel opens, given that 75% of trucks crossing the canal cordon and 35% of trucks exiting the port have up to four axles.”

Ryan claims Dublin City Council has no plans to introduce new lower speed limits and he is generally disappointed with the thrust of its HGV traffic management proposals. He commented: “The City Council has no plans as of yet to radically alter the traffic management system in the city centre which the opening of the port tunnel should have facilitated.”

He continued: “The surest way to reduce the increasing levels of pedestrian deaths is to exclude all trucks from the city centre during daylight hours and to arrange deliveries at other regulated times as was suggested by the Dublin City Centre Business Association.”
Ryan says the initial proposal was to restrict access for all vehicles with more than two axles from entering the canal cordon between 7am and 7pm and the majority of submissions from the general public supported that strategy. But on the back of submissions from Diageo, the Irish Concrete Federation and the Retail, Grocery, Dairy and Allied Trades’ Association (RGDATA), it was decided to relax the rules so that only trucks with five or more axles would initially be restricted. It is proposed that after a period of five years the regulations would then apply to vehicles with four axles when industry had had time to adjust to the new regime.

Ryan further claims that it is proposed to allow ‘over height’ vehicles, which cannot fit into the tunnel to drive through the city centre for a period of 12-18 months after the tunnel opens.
A permit system is also being set up to allow even the largest HGVs access to the city centre. “Permits will be given to established industries located in the city centre, which need to have access to the Port or to HGVs delivering construction materials or liquid fuels to sites within the canal cordon,” he added.

Green Party TD Eamon Ryan

The IRHA has launched a scathing attack on the Green Party claiming that it doesn’t understand the fundamentals of haulage and distribution. Press officer Jimmy Quinn led the attack. “The Green Party once again has failed to understand the logistics of providing essential supplies for a city the size of Dublin.”

He continued: “The notion that this can be done with a large fleet of small vehicles instead of a smaller fleet of larger vehicles is wasteful in terms of efficiency, fuel usage, and CO2 emissions. The Green Party proposals would lead to more expensive goods on city centre shelves and confer an advantage on the increasing number of out of city shopping locations.”

The Green’s proposals would “effectively strangle” the building industry inside the Canal cordon, according to Quinn. He added: “The amount of steel and concrete going into an apartment building site runs into thousands of tonnes per day. The net effect of restrictive delivery regimes would lead to more expensive housing.”

The opening of the Dublin Port Tunnel will have a massive positive impact on traffic in the city, according to Quinn. Indeed, he is at pains to point out that the IRHA backed the development of a port tunnel since its conception in the late 1970s.
The IRHA is furious at the Green’s stance that all HGVs should be banned from the city centre during daylight hours. That they have wrapped up the proposal as a road safety initiative is a cheap shot, according to Quinn.

“The persistent efforts of the Green Party to blame the transport sector for the carnage on our roads is disgraceful and is not borne out by comparative analysis. The idea that all trucks should be excluded from the city centre, during daylight hours, as suggested by Deputy Ryan is idiotic in the extreme.”

The IRHA isn’t exactly enamoured with the Dublin City Centre Business Association either. Quinn commented: “It lost all its credibility when it suggested that all trucks higher than the lowest bridge in the city should be excluded from Dublin streets. If this was adopted the largest commercial vehicle would be no bigger than a one tonne van.”
The County Louth haulier says the association will continue to work with all the stakeholders to ensure that goods are delivered into the city centre, with the maximum efficiency and minimum disruption.

However, the planned introduction of a permit system, would pose an administrative nightmare for all concerned.
“A permit system would be unique to Dublin among its peers in Europe and fails to take account of the amount of foreign vehicles, which deliver into the city on a daily basis. If every Irish truck driver heading for Europe needed a permit for every city he might deliver to on a weekly basis the permit requirement would run to hundreds. Clearly an administrative nightmare.”

He concluded: “The Irish Road Haulage Association is fully committed to working with the Dublin City Council, the Dublin Traffic Office and all other stakeholders to ensure that goods are delivered with the maximum efficiency and the least disruption for all concerned. But unrealistic expectations are contributing nothing to solving Dublin’s traffic problems.”