Warning on Dublin commuting

Improvements in the Republic's road and rail network should not be made solely to allow people to commute to Dublin for work, a leading economist has warned.

Mr Jim Fitzpatrick of consultant Fitzpatrick & Associates, who outlined the Republic's road and rail infrastructure spending needs in a report presented to the Government last March, told a conference on EU funding in Dublin Castle yesterday that there was a danger that people would be encouraged to commute from "impossible distances" to Dublin.

The twin pressures on people were the rising cost of house prices in the Dublin area and the improvements in the rail and road network which the Government had clearly signalled were on the way as part of the National Development Plan.

Addressing the conference on EU inter-regional (Interreg) funding between Ireland and Wales, Mr Fitzpatrick summarised the development needs of the Republic's southern and eastern region, which is closest to Wales and which is part-funded under the Interreg Programme.

There was, he said, a need to consolidate and build on the recent economic success of the region and not to let congestion stifle growth. He pointed out that while the region had roughly half the land mass of the Republic, it had most of the population, most employment and most production and growth.

While growth of the Border, midlands and western region had also been good in the last seven years and far above the European average, the lifestyle opportunities of the southern and eastern region meant that it had attracted the largest slice of the population.

While the focus must be to ensure that Dublin continued to grow, "it must ensure that this does not give rise to impossible levels of commuting", he said.

Asked what he thought of new housing developments in the midlands being advertised as enjoying "commutable" distances to Dublin, Mr Fitzpatrick said it was of paramount importance that people who bought such homes did not commute by private car to Dublin.

"Development of the road and rail network is aimed at inter-urban travel rather than commuting from long distances, but in reality there will probably be a bit of both. But any commuting should be done on public transport," he stressed.

The conference also heard details of improvements made under the current round of Interreg funding, due to end this December. Among the projects financed were schemes to improve facilities at Dublin, Dun Laoghaire Rosslare and New Ross ports as well as road and rail access.