TRANSPORT MINISTER EAMON Ryan has threatened to “pull” resources from local councils who do not implement their transport plans.

Ryan urged Dublin City Council to move ahead with its transport plan, which aims to reduce private car traffic in the capital, but has been faced with opposition from large retailers in recent weeks.

He said that any “delay would not be clever” and would mean a council could “lose” the support it receives through the government’s Pathfinder programme for transport projects.

Speaking to reporters today in Dublin, the Green Party TD questioned how “really serious” some local authorities are about new transport plans.

Where councils can’t do it, it’s a signal that the Councils don’t want to do it.

Ryan said that each local authority needs to decide whether it is “really serious about sustainable mobility, or is it willing just to delay forever” on plans to reduce traffic.

“And I would say a lot climate action delayed is climate action denied in my mind. And it’s not just about climate, it’s about making our bus system work. It’s about for everyone in the city to get the busses going through quickly, so the city works for everyone,” Ryan said this afternoon.

As part of the Dublin Transport Plan’s ambition to make it easier for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport to move around, it will restrict car access in certain parts of the city centre, such as along the quays.

A key aim was to cut down on ‘pass through traffic’ – this is the number of motorists who drive through the city centre without stopping, which the National Transport Authority has estimated at approximately 60%.

Public consultations held by Dublin City Council (DCC) demonstrated overwhelming support for the plan, with a majority of motorists also approving of the strategy.

The plan was approved by councillors in November, with the first measures to be rolled out starting from August.

However, recent weeks have seen pushback from the Dublin City Centre Traders Alliance, which includes retailers Brown Thomas Arnotts, several car park owners and a small number of other business groups.

Ryan discussed the uptake from councils to the government’s Pathfinder Programme, which comprises 34 projects across the country.

It falls under the Department of Transport’s sustainable mobility policy, which commits the government to deliver at least 500,000 additional daily active travel and public transport journeys and a 10% reduction in kilometres driven by fossil fuelled cars by 2030.

But Ryan said that the previous sustainable mobility plan, published in 2009 when the Greens were last in government, wasn’t delivered and that he had to “learn the lessons from that” for the current policy.

“This time the Pathfinder budget is there to show that when you promise something, you deliver it. And the resources go to those councils, local authorities that are able to deliver quickly,” he added.

“I mention I suppose because there’s one pathfinder project, the Dublin city centre project, where some people are arguing ‘Oh this should be delayed’”, Ryan continued.

“You can’t force local authorities but my understanding is the council are supportive. They voted [for it] the consultation was clear, the public massively supported it. And just from our Pathfinder sense, delay would not be clever. Delay would [mean] you’d lose your Pathfinder status.”