'Attempt to remove as much traffic as possible from towns'

People are turning away from Mullingar and doing their shopping elsewhere because of their frustration with the town’s ongoing traffic problem. That’s according to Cllr Andrew Duncan, who says that the council’s failure to address traffic issues in the town has led to some people taking their business to neighbouring towns.

“I know several people that used to come into town and now go to Kinnegad or Tullamore because the traffic [in Mullingar] makes it uninviting to go in.

That’s the reality. It’s not a guess.”

The Fine Gael councillor believes that the council’s failure to address Mullingar traffic is part of what he describes as an “overarching attempt to remove as much vehicular traffic as possible from towns” and “to completely remove cars from the rural landscape”.

“Over time, bit by bit, car parks will be removed not only in towns but in new developments.

“Then you could possibly see a form of tax on cars coming into town, you can see what is happening in Dublin, but if you transplant that to Mullingar, we don’t have the infrastructure.

“A lot of people rely on cars, they simply have to have one to get A to B.

“For me it has gone too far, but it also being done in a way that people don’t fully understand what’s coming. They don’t see what’s coming because it is not being clearly explained – because, were it to be clearly explained, there would be a lot of objections. It is being done insidiously and by stealth. That is my opinion.”

“For me, when something has to be done like that without clearly explaining what is happening, then there is always an issue in terms of public perception.

“If you decided tomorrow morning that you are going to remove 200 car parking spaces, there would be uproar, but there is probably nearly that much gone already [since the start of the town enhancement scheme in 2018] if you started adding them up.”

One of a number of councillors vocal in their opposition to the council’s new draft environmental strategy at the last local authority meeting (see page 24), Cllr Duncan says that he will oppose any plan to pedestrianise the centre of Mullingar.

“In my opinion there is an overarching attempt to remove as much vehicular traffic as possible from towns.

“I have no doubt that when the next town enhancement scheme is put out there, and it’s probably not that far away, the removal of more car parking spaces will be a primary objective of it and if I am around I will be opposing that.”