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14th Sep 2022

The pedestrianisation of Capel Street is up for debate once more

Fiona Frawley

people eating and drinking on tables outside Capel Street pub

The never ending story for the world’s 22nd coolest street.

Councillors are calling for Capel Street’s traffic-free status to be reviewed once again, according to the Dublin Inquirer.

In a meeting on Tuesday morning, independent councillor Christy Burke said “It’s great to hear that it is one of the coolest streets in the world and people are enjoying themselves eating outdoors”, but added that some local residents on surrounding streets are “tortured with traffic and illegal parking outside their doors”.

The pedestrianisation of Capel Street came into effect in May of this year, following a public consultation during which 1,766 submissions were received – 91% favour of the proposal. At the meeting of the Central Area Committee on Tuesday, Dublin councillors presented a largely positive report in response to the pedestrianisation.

However, before the meeting Richard Guiney, CEO of Dublin Town (a group that represents Dublin businesses) had emailed councillors to say that most of the businesses on Capel Street would like cars to be allowed on the street during the day.

“Businesses continue to believe that they have been presented with a fait accompli and that their concerns were not fully considered”, he wrote, according to the Inquirer.

“Most businesses on Capel Street are disappointed with current levels of trade. The majority of business owners would prefer if traffic could access the street during the day, and it was pedestrianised in the evening”, he added.

The Councils report stated that “The majority of the feedback received so far has been positive with people enjoying the atmosphere and more welcoming feel to the street”.

The decision to make Capel Street traffic-free will be up for review again in October, 6 months from the launch of the pedestrianisation.

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