{"id":310419,"date":"2026-02-21T20:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310419\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T20:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:57:08","slug":"locals-protest-against-companys-opposition-to-dublin-public-transport-scheme-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310419\/","title":{"rendered":"Locals protest against company\u2019s opposition to Dublin public-transport scheme \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of protesters gathered in the rain outside the Go petrol station on Dublin\u2019s<\/a> Old Cabra Road on Saturday to criticise a business they feel is standing in the way of important local infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The station is located on the proposed Blanchardstown-to-Dublin city centre BusConnects<\/a> corridor and its operator has taken a challenge to the public transport scheme<\/a>, arguing the changes would wipe out the vast majority of its custom.<\/p>\n

Locals want to see the route bolstered by new pedestrian crossings, improvements to the existing cycle lanes and the introduction of bus gates, which would improve bus priority without widening the road to add new lanes. It would allow for local access, albeit through different routes, but would remove the current route for private cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main issue is to get safer cycling and pedestrian crossings for our children,\u201d said Brian Gormley, chair of sustainable action group Connecting Cabra, which organised the protest. \u201cThere are 11 schools in Cabra. There are thousands of children going to school every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrianBrian Gormley of Connecting Cabra outside the Go petrol station on Old Cabra Road in Dublin. The station’s owners have objected to a BusConnects route in the area. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

Gormley mentioned the deaths of two young boys, a 10-year-old in 2007 and a 14-year-old in 2011, as reason for the issue of road safety holding so much weight locally. Both died in crashes on the same stretch of the nearby Faussagh Road. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still very raw in the community and there\u2019s been no progress on delivering safer cycling or walking facilities [since then],\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Go is owned by Lissan Coal Company (Ireland) Ltd (LCC) and has operated on Old Cabra Road for the last five years. <\/p>\n

LCC says the station is reliant on passing traffic and that, if introduced, the bus gates would cause significant damage to the commercial viability of its business. <\/p>\n

The BusConnects corridor was approved in 2024, but public consultation and the publication of related drawings began in 2018, a year before LCC had planning permission approved for the unmanned station on Old Cabra Road.<\/p>\n

As such, those protesting believe the company should have been aware of the commercial risks facing the business before the station opened. <\/p>\n

\"Eighteen-month-oldEighteen-month-old Cu\u00e1n with his family at the Connecting Cabra protest outside Go petrol station in Cabra, Dublin. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n

Green Party<\/a> councillor Feljin Jose attended the High Court<\/a> for the judicial review on the matter last year. He was also part of the crowd protesting outside Go on Saturday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be good if the company heard from the people here and understood their concerns and understood that they want these facilities that were promised,\u201d said Jose. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot allow commercial profits of a petrol station to be prioritised over the safety of local residents.\u201d <\/p>\n

The LCC Group has been contacted for comment on the concerns raised by protesters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dozens of protesters gathered in the rain outside the Go petrol station on Dublin\u2019s Old Cabra Road on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29095,615,8934,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-310419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-busconnects","9":"tag-dublin","10":"tag-green-party","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}