Cars will begin to be phased out of College Green next year as an early step in pedestrianising more of Dublin's city centre.

The goal is to make the inner-city traffic free within the next three years, the Business Post reports.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan told the paper that the "overhaul" of some of the city's busiest roads is part of plans to reduce reliance on use of cars in urban areas.

Plans to pedestrianise College Green, one of the capital's links between the north and south inner city, were first proposed in 2015.

Next year, two of the lanes will close and in 2024 "through traffic will be removed".

Green Party leader Minister Ryan said that wide multi-lane roads are "no longer the way to go".

Dublin City Council has a tender to design Dublin's newest plaza, for which there is already a proposed plan.

Minister Ryan hopes that the change would help the country reach its climate targets.

'Overwhelming public support'

Green Party Councilor for Dublin's North Inner-City Janet Horner said that people will welcome "a really ambitious design" for College Green that will stretch down to George's Street.

However, 2024 is "the soonest" construction can begin on the area - something she says caused "frustration" among Dubliners who support the plans.

"We started looking at an interim scheme for the first time and now, for example, Winetavern Street has been made two ways for buses."

"The more and more buses are removed from College Green, the more space we an take in order to give back footpath space."

She hopes that a civic plaza like the one proposed would provide a "central focal point for the city" with more green space, play space for children and space for cycling.