Govt urged to tackle commuter belt problems
The Government must develop a clear strategy to tackle the problems faced by people living in the fast growing commuter belt around Dublin, a Labour TD demanded today.
Joan Burton, Labour Party representative for Dublin West and spokeswoman on finance, called on the Government to establish a taskforce to look at the provision of schools, public transport and amenities in the suburbs.
“It is time for an informed and decisive spatial strategy debate, the ’wait and see’ approach adopted by the Government is causing real hardship to communities throughout the commuter belt,” she said.
“The current crisis of primary school places in the Dublin 15 area, with hundreds of children and their parents uncertain of where or when they will start primary school, is an example of the continuing failure by the Fianna Fáil Minister for Education to acknowledge the huge population growth and to put in the required schools on a timely basis.
“We know that the provision and cost of childcare is a serious problem for many young families, we know that traffic congestion is strangling small communities and we know that large amounts of people are living in areas renowned for a serious lack of the most basic infrastructures.
“As the populations in these fast growing areas increase, these gaps in infrastructure are becoming more and more pronounced,” she said.
Ms Burton said action was needed immediately to tackle these problems.
The Labour TD’s comment come ahead of initial findings of a survey conducted by NUI Maynooth on life in the commuter belt, which are due to be presented at a conference at the university on Friday.
