AN emergency motion was brought before Limerick City and County Council this past week calling for the bus lane on O’Connell Street in Limerick City to be open to ordinary traffic for Christmas.
Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely told the Council executive that it would be remiss of the local authority not to open the O’Connell Street bus lane on a temporary basis after a presentation given at the recent Metropolitan District meeting with local business representatives.
Seconding her motion, her party colleague Cllr Daniel Butler deemed the move simple and effective. He said it would be a big help to local businesses who are “facing huge challenges”.
“This Christmas will likely be the making or breaking of a lot of businesses, we need to give them every support we can,” he stated.
Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran O’Hanlon agreed it was a logical step to help struggling local businesses over the festive period, adding his disappointment that there was once again no official turning on of the Christmas lights in Limerick City this year.
Independent councillor Maria Donoghue said she could not agree with the proposal to remove the bus lanes through the city on a short-term basis.
“I cannot understand how we don’t see the bigger picture here that we’re not providing buses. We’re complaining about it, and then on the other hand we’re complaining that nobody’s using the bus lanes, now we want to open them up to traffic,” Cllr Donoghue hit out.
The former Council architect, who worked on the redesign of O’Connell Street, said she recalls “a time when a lot of city councillors were berating me publicly for not making O’Connell Street fully pedestrianised. This is a very interesting turn of events.”
Sinn Fein councillor Ursula Gavan was of the view that more frequent and late night buses were the answer.
“A bus can bring 60 to 80 people with them on a journey, a car generally brings one person into town. It’s a no-brainer,” she insisted.
Independent councillor Fergus Kilcoyne said that Council management should look at allowing a temporary taxi rank on O’Connell Street from midnight to 3am at weekends.
The Council’s Director for Transport and Mobility, Brian Kennedy, said that the bus lane is essential not just for punctuality, but also reliability. The bus lane, he said, typically saves 15 to 20 minutes at peak time and, without it, there would be cancellations of services due to excess times.
He said Cllr Kiely’s motion “would very badly discommode the buses” and is against the policy of the Council.
Citing his concern for those living in the city and relying on busses to get to work, Mayor Moran said he could not support the closure of the lane without the consultation of the citizens who use it.
