Ireland’s love of three bed semi-detached homes is to blame for the “horrendous” traffic endured by many people every morning, Ciara Kelly has argued.
Yesterday, the Dáil heard that thousands of people spend days of their lives every year stuck in traffic and that the country’s motorways become ‘carparks’ every morning.
On Newstalk Breakfast, presenter Ciara Kelly said she happened to be on the M50 yesterday during rush hour and that her heart “goes out” to people who do that daily.
“It was like a car park; there was a crash around the Ballymun area. It was extraordinary,” she explained.
“It took me an hour and 40 minutes to get from Dundrum to the airport.
“It was hellish for people. I don’t know what needs to change.”
“It must be soul destroying for people who have no option other than that road.”
Congestion in County Down. Picture by: Radharc Images / Alamy Stock Photo.Ciara added that she is aware that there are also “horrendous” problems in Galway and Cork too.
“I don’t know if the problem is that we’re not building enough roads because of ideology or if it’s a combination of that and we don’t have enough public transport,” she said.
“But it’s dreadful.”
Traffic in Dublin. Picture by: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie.Fellow presenter Shane Coleman argued that greater housing density would help alleviate the issue.
“Here’s what the problem is, it’s 50 or 60 years of really bad planning,” he said.
“What can we expect? We have never embraced the concept of cities and towns and having high population densities.
“Because high population densities allow you to build public transport.
“The problem is for decades, half the houses built every year were one off houses.
“People wanted that - and that’s fine - but if you want one off houses, you cannot have public transport.”
Ciara replied that Irish people idealise the type of housing that causes congestion.
“Everyone wants the three bed semi-d with front and back garden,” she added
“We go out rather than up, that’s what we do.”
Main image: A split of Ciara Kelly and traffic on Wexford Street in Dublin. Pictures by: Newstalk and Alamy.com.
