A plan to ban cars from parts of the Quays in Dublin has been branded as 'intrinsically discriminatory' against disabled people.

Cars and vans will be banned from using sections of the north and south Quays at Bachelors Walk and Aston Quay from early August.

Those carrying a Disabled Person Parking Permit, commonly known as a blue badge, will also not be allowed to use the route.

Newstalk's Emma Tyrrell for The Pat Kenny Show went to ask locals what they think of the plan.

"I think it's a great idea, get rid of the cars out of the city as quickly as possible," one woman said.

"They're taking them out of Bachelors Walk as well? Ah for God's sake - is this all Eamon Ryan is it?" another woman said.

"It'll stop people coming in, the businesses are going to lose," she added.

"I think it's terrible - private cars should be allowed," another woman said.

Dublin City Council Executive Manager for Traffic Brendan O'Brien said blue badge holders have to be included in the ban.

"When we create public transport only, or indeed pedestrian streets or Luas public transport streets such as Lower Grafton Street, there isn't a mechanism to allow people who hold disabled parking badges to use that," he said.

"However what we're saying is that that's only really relevant to two short sections on Bachelors Walk and a portion of Aston Quay".

Bus and cycle lanes on the Quays in Dublin, 24-8-17. Image: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Voice of Vision Impairment coordinator Dr Robert Sinnott said the measures are limiting where people with disabilities can live.

"If somebody buys an apartment on Bachelors Walk they have a right to be able to [have] door to door access," he said.

"Let's say if they're quadriplegic or if they're visually impaired they need to be dropped as close to where they live as possible.

"That will be taken away, those opportunities will be taken away.

"It's intrinsically discriminatory, it's discriminatory by process so it's illegal under international law what they've done by process here."

'Legal action'

Dr Sinnott said taxis are "no good" for many disabled people as they need to be specially adapted and he hopes legal action is taken against the plan.

"We could take legal action but we need somebody who it effects immediately for such a legal action to work," he said.

"It's hard to find people willing to put their necks on the line who are going to do that.

"In principle it's absolutely shocking".

Dr Sinnott said legislation needs to be passed to allow blue badge vehicles to use any street, pedestrianised or not.

'An absolute nightmare'

Manager of O'Connell's Bar on Bachelors Walk Declan Cummins said the plan is going to create more problems for them.

"I was talking to a couple of the delivery company lads this morning, it's going to be an absolute nightmare for them," he said.

"It's adding 25/30 minutes on to their [journey] - and that's just for me.

"If you take in all the businesses around here that's going to be an issue."

Mr Cummins said the changes are unlikely to boost their trade.

"When I started here 20 years ago there was three lanes of traffic here, in fact I could actually even park out the front," he said.

"Now they've got it down to one [lane] and I don't think it's improving.

"I do think it'll have a certain impact - I don't think it'll be overly a benefit.

"It's not going to draw thousands more to my door".

An artist's impression of the South Quays in Dublin after the traffic plan changes. Image: Dublin City Council

Manager of the Forbidden Planet comic book shop Kevin Lyons said their deliveries will become more complicated.

"It might ease up on congestion delivery-wise and so on; that's obviously one thing we'd be concerned about," he said.

"It shouldn't affect business hopefully if everything's OK delivery-wise.

"Hopefully they'll have a window [for] certain times that they can deliver because otherwise to get down the Quays from Temple Bar and so on we're not going to be using trolleys to get the products shipped into us - they can be quite heavy.

"Sometimes you get up to five pallets per day so it's a lot of stock".

Mr Lyons added that he doesn't think there's enough time to implement the changes.

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Main image: Traffic delays on the South Quays in Dublin city centre in March 2023. Image: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie