Keegan dismisses criticism of bid to ‘aggressively restrict’ space for cars

Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan has brushed off criticism of his bid to “aggressively restrict” road space for cars, suggesting a need for planners to stand up to “a very strong pro-car lobby”.

In comments first reported by The Irish Times on Monday, Mr Keegan told a cycling symposium in Dublin that in the absence of congestion charges, reallocating space to cyclists was "the best and indeed the only option" to create more sustainable transport.

Defending the council’s policy on Wednesday, he said he accepted some people considered the use of the word “aggressively” was inappropriate.

However, “it was intended to mean with a sense of determination and enthusiasm”, he told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Claire Byrne.

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“I suppose the background to this is that we have a target in our development plan to grow the cycling mode share in the peak period from 6 per cent of all trips in the morning peak in 2019 to about 13 per cent by 2028. That is a very serious challenge.”

Mr Keegan said Dublin was a very flat city and had a very moderate climate which lent itself to being a cycling city.

“But if we are to achieve that kind of growth and if we are to make cycling a mode of choice for more people and for more journeys then we do have to change our whole approach to travel.

“It is very clear to me that we have to ‘up’ the delivery of cycling infrastructure. The options for providing that off-road are limited and what we saw during Covid-19 is when we put it on-road and put protection that has been very successful. There has been no demand to take back that road space and I think that is the approach we need to follow now if we are to achieve our objective of doubling cycling numbers.”

Responding to Michael McDowell's views on the matter in an Irish Times column on Wednesday, he lightheartedly said the Senator and former government minister took "an adversarial approach to almost everything I do".

“He has a view on things. It is a legitimate view,” Mr Keegan added.

“There is a very strong pro-car lobby and it has only really been in the last few years that there has been a determined effort to push the sustainable modes. I think this is a very useful debate.”