Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn has accused the authority of "railroading in" a new cycleway which has been halted by a court order.
The High Court yesterday ruled that the Council should stop work on the two-way system on the Strand Road and Beach Road in Sandymount in South Dublin.
Dublin City Council's Chief Executive has since said he will be "fighting the case" to continue the project despite a hold on works until April.
Owen Keegan added that the Council is "absolutely committed, we’re not going to disappear just because of this", and that the inconveniencing of motorists would not mark “the end of civilisation”.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh, Mannix Flynn said he has been contacted by concerned residents about the project.
"This is not the first time that I've had concerns from residents, many residents in Dublin, who are pro-cycling, who are pro the environment, who are pro-green, who just feel they are being bullied and set upon by these infrastructures being put up outside their doors without any type of due process or any proper consultation," he said.
"These are all being done under the general guise of COVID-19 measures, and the people in Sandymount and people in Ringsend and Irishtown are very pro-cycling, they have an alternative plan to place this particular cycle path on the promenade of Strand Road."
Initial designs for the proposed Strand Road coastal mobility route. Credit: Dublin City Council via TwitterCouncillor Flynn said the plans don't do anything to reduce traffic, rather "it simply throws the traffic into other areas".
"We all want safe cycling, we all want people to enjoy the environment, and we all want people to come back into the city," he explained.
"But you simply can't railroad this in under the kind of cloud of uncertainty in terms of the legalities of these matters."
Councillor Flynn also denied that the project has become an issue of locals versus cycling.
"I think it's very disingenuous of anybody to assume that we're heathens, that we're simply anti-cycling or that we're simply anti-improvement of the road.
"We want safety for everybody.
"But not at this expense, and I'll say this much, if this was a private enterprise or a private developer, and they had flaunted the law on this particular matter, by God, there would be hell to behold."
NB. This will no longer come into effect on Monday 1st March. pic.twitter.com/mx2UnTTDEU
— Dublin City Council (@DubCityCouncil) February 26, 2021
On the same programme, the Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu said that following consultations made with residents, concerns raised had been addressed by the project team.
She added that several mitigation measures had been included in the project to make it safer and more accessible.
"When the first notice that Strand Road was coming, the consultations followed immediately," Ms Chu said.
"It was not a case of, 'We're putting this in straight away', it was, 'We are consulting with you'.
The Lord Mayor stated that the project managers met with various groups and that any time a concern was raised about a particular aspect of the plan, mitigation measures were put in place to address those issues.
More space is needed for walking and cycling in light of the pandemic, Ms Chu stated, and the plans were made in Dublin similar to those in many other cities to accommodate further mobility during COVID-19.
She described yesterday's court decision as "disappointing" but added that divisions in the community about the issue need to be heeled as these modes of infrastructure are "essential because the city has changed".
