Dublin City Council is proposing the permanent pedestrianisation of several streets in the city centre following successful trials some weeks ago.
Four areas around Grafton Street, namely South William Street, Drury Street, South Anne Street and Dame Court, are set to become car free on a permanent basis.
It comes after several streets were closed to traffic on a trial basis over several weekends in the summer, with parking spaces turned into outdoor seating areas for cafes and restaurants.
A period of consultation will now take place with pedestrians and the business community on plans to introduce the changes permanently.
The move comes after more than 90 per cent of respondents to a Dublin City Council online survey following the trials were in favour of removing cars from certain streets on a permanent basis.
We are now looking towards being able to put in place a more permanent system
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City councillor Janet Horner said the decision to move to a more permanent solution is based this public feedback.
“A proposal has been put forward gathering in the feedback from members of the public and from the businesses to take the next steps towards a more permanent pedestrianisation of those streets,” she said.
“We’ve seen hugely positive feedback from that survey and we are now looking towards being able to put in place a more permanent system for pedestrianising South Anne Street, Dame Court, Drury Street and to an extent, South William Street.”
A wider pedestrianisation plan is being curtailed after some car park owners, including Brown Thomas, said they could not facilitate the measures according to the Irish Times.
South William Street will not be fully pedestrianised in order to allow for cars exiting the Brown Thomas car park.
