EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016 - An Assessment

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Ireland’s Environment – An Assessment 2016 172
change needed to move away from individual car usage
is to be achieved. This change can be realised through
a combination of public awareness campaigns and
significantly more funding being assigned to projects
like walkability audits, plans to expand and declutter
footpaths, priority routes and schemes for traffic
management of public transport, especially at junctions,
greater segregation of cyclists from mainstream traffic
and safe cycling infrastructure (e.g. bicycle parking, early
starts at traffic lights and safe road surfaces) (Greening
Transport, 2016b).
This awareness campaign should occur in line with “green
city” measures that act as a barrier to car use in large urban
areas, for example greater pedestrianisation of streets,
congestion charging, creation of more park and ride
facilities; and movement of car parks away from city centre
areas, as set out in the in the Greater Dublin Transport
Strategy 2016-2035. These measures should be put in
place to encourage sustainable transport use in order to
ease traffic congestion and ultimately result in a reduction
in emissions. However, viable alternatives to the private car
need to be available for these measures to be effective.
The main initiatives and legislative requirements are
outlined in the Energy White paper, the Biofuels Obligation
scheme, the National Mitigation Plan, the Draft Transport
Strategy, and the Dublin Area Cycle Network. The relevant
authorities will be responsible for ensuring the effective
implementation of these policies. Going forward, it
will be necessary for periodic reports to be prepared
and published to outline how the environmental and
sustainability actions incorporated into these projects are
progressing, and to assess whether they are contributing
to significant and verifiable reductions in our emissions of
CO2 and air pollutants.
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