Motorists could be charged more than €100 to travel to Dublin for a day under proposals to ease congestion in our biggest cities.
Environmentalists argue that emissions could be significantly reduced if motorists were discouraged from driving in city centres.
But the sense of urgency to tackle the problem is dividing cabinet with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ministers less eager to pick the pockets of motorists than their Green colleagues.
The NTA (National Transport Authority) has suggested that a congestion charge of €10 per car per day and a 400% increase in parking fees could serve to keep cars out.
The cost of parking a car in Dublin city center is usually €3 per hour, but can go up to €3.50.
This means that if you want to park your car in the capital under the proposed new rules, you could be paying €400 per hour instead of €15, a 3% increase in parking fees, reports The Mirror.
If you work eight hours a day and don’t have free parking, this could set you back €120, before the €10 congestion charge is applied.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has received from the NTA a model of how the government could implement incentives and disincentives to keep cars out of city centres.
Vehicles entering and leaving our cities account for around 20% of all our carbon emissions and it is vital that we address this issue if we are to achieve the ambitious 2030 Green Goals.
However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told reporters in Waterford that the congestion charge is not something the government is looking to introduce immediately.
Mr Varadkar said: “It’s about moving towards urban compact growth. Irish people are really well-travelled, we’ve been all around the world. And I think cities that work best are ones that have a lot of people who are living in the city centre area, who are much more likely to walk or cycle to where they want to go and to use public transport,” reports The Mirror.
A spokeswoman for Minister Ryan last night said: “The memo is about looking for approval for the development of a demand management strategy. Our transport system is overly dependent on cars which is leading to congestion and gridlock in many of our towns and cities,” reports The Mirror.
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