Car-Free Day made no impact in Dublin yesterday morning as rain encouraged commuters to stick to their cars, creating traffic congestion that was worse than usual, according to the AA. Tim O'Brien reports.
Dublin City Council declined to close any streets, provoking the ire of the Dublin Cycling Campaign which accused it of virtually ignoring the event.
Campaigners erected a 5ft mock headstone on the steps of the Civic Offices to "mourn the day's passing". The headstone bore the inscription "Dublin City Council RIP Car Free Day 1998-2003"
The council was also the target of criticism from the campaign groups, Critical Mass and Reclaim The Streets, which were joint organisers of a "Repaint the Streets" demonstration in the city centre last night. Between 200 and 300 mainly young protesters walked or cycled in the company of a large Garda presence through the city centre to the Central Bank.
A number of garda cyclists in uniform accompanied the parade, as did gardaí on foot, on horseback and on motorcycles. It was monitored by gardaí in a van with closed-circuit television, from roof-tops by gardaí with binoculars and by a Garda helicopter.
At the Central Bank some marchers sat on the street and blocked traffic, while others produced chalk and drew zebra crossings on the ground.
To chants of "Whose world? Our world!" and "Whose streets? Our streets!" they blocked traffic for up to an hour. However, it was a good-natured event, and a number of plain-clothes gardaí smiled and laughed as they acknowledged their status for an Indymedia cameraman.
Also cycling were two Green Party TDs, Mr Ciarán Cuffe and Mr Eamon Ryan.
Dublin Bus handed out 20,000 free tickets. However, a spokeswoman agreed with the AA that the rain probably put a damper on the numbers availing of free public transport during the day.
The AA spokesman, Mr Conor Faughnan, said that in not closing the streets in Dublin the city council was only "accepting the reality that without an efficient public transport system there is no point in pretending that the city can do without the car.
"We [in the AA] have no problem with a complete car-free day, but it would be more realistic to call it a bank holiday."
Car-Free Day was also celebrated in towns and cities across the Republic.