The Dublin Commuter Coalition (DCC) are calling for the car park at the back of Leinster House to be replaced with a wild garden.  

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would like to see a wildflower meadow developed outside Government buildings.  

The DCC are now bringing back proposals to introduce a wild garden in the back area of Leinster House facing Kildare Street. 

DCC Chair Feljin Jose told Lunchtime Live that the car park used by TDs and Senators is “first and foremost, ugly”.  

“It's just a giant, giant area tarmac – it's not fitting for what is our national parliament,” he said.  

Mr Jose said there is a need for “some parking” - but there is a greater need to “bring some life back into Leinster House”.  

He referened the wildflower garden at the front gate of Trinity College Dublin as inspiration.  

“People looked at nature in a different way because of what they saw in front of Trinity,” he said. “We could something very similar.” 

Mr Jose said removing the car parking spaces would be “symbolic of what we need to do”.  

“We're asking TDs and senators to walk three minutes [from a nearby carpark] as a symbolic leadership gesture for climate protection,” he said. 

“Nothing criminal about owning cars” 

Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy Rae said the proposal is “nonsense” and there is “nothing criminal about owning cars”.  

“There's nothing in the world wrong with them – we need car parking spaces to be able to access the buildings that they need to go to,” he said.  

Mr Healy Rae said the front area of Leinster House previously had more parking spaces, but they were removed and replaced with a garden “at enormous costs”. 

“It's probably the most expensive piece of lawn in Ireland,” he said.  

Mr Healy Rae said a car park is necessary for the people who commute to Leinster House and the surrounding buildings.  

“If those carparking spaces are taken away, people cannot fly in here and drop out of the sky in a parachute,” he said. “People will still need to come here.” 

As a Kerry representative, Mr Healy Rae said he will not tell people “to get out of their cars” as there is no train or bus service in many areas of the county. 

Mr Jose responded that he is not asking Mr Healy Rae to “walk from Kerry”, and suggested there are several multistorey car parks surrounding Leinster House. 

"Hypocritical"

Mr Healy Rae also said the suggestion was “hypocritical” rather than symbolic. 

He said: “We want to hide the motorcars, so it looks like there’s no cars – but we’ll put them into other buildings and increase the cost of car parking spaces on other people who have to come into Dublin.” 

“The car can’t disappear, when you’re talking about getting rid of the cars, where are they going to go?” 

He compared the suggestion to the claim that Green Party TDs will “cycle on their bikes and have their state cars following behind them”.