Shared walking and cycling signs have been up on many entry points to Capel Street since 2022.Comment & Analysis: Cllr Mannix Flynn misleadingly claimed at a recent council meeting that councillors were led to believe Capel St and Parliament St were to be pedestrianised, and since this website covered Cllr Flynns view, a number of people have said that they share his version of events the problem is that theres both Dublin City Council documeninaion and media reports which shows that this is revisionism.While Dublin City Council might have mentioned pedestrianisingthe odd time, they overwhelmingly used traffic-free to mean motor traffic-free. Sure, this may be problematic. It is true that cycling can sometimes be counted as traffic, but Dublin City Council even counts pedestrians in traffic counts.Overall, as our cities and towns are redesigned to be less car-dominated, we will need to follow other European countries and include flexibility. That flexibility will not only include providing for cycling, where pushing cyclists to go around is unrealistic and/or pushing them into danger, but it will also have to include where cars are allowed for limited access for different reasons. We dont have much experience with these spaces yet, so there clearly isnt a common language to describe lower traffic or lower car areas.With Capel Street, many media outlets often or exclusively referred to it as pedestrianisation even this publication did until it became clear that doing so was leading some people to misunderstand that cycling was not allowed.Its worth saying that the main focus back in 2021 was opening up public space to people because of Covid, such as giving people outdoor dining options. And on the weekend in the evening, allowing cycling access was not as important, but cycling was allowed, just as emergency access was provided for (it was also not mentioned in the headlines).The council could have said car-free like this publication mainly has, but that would lead to some smart ass asking, Does that mean I can drive my van down it?Public consultations in 2021 and 2022A Dublin City Council consultation report in 2021 describing the Covid measures:On Capel Street this meant closing off all access routes to the street for vehicles, while ensuring thatpedestrians, cyclists and emergency services would have full access.A Dublin City Council consultation report describing planned measures in May 2022 outlines that there are concerns between pedestrians and cyclists, as well as how pedestrians and cyclists are the main users of the street.March 2022:The Irish Independent reported New plans will make Capel Street the longest pedestrianised street in Dublin, but within this article, it was also covered how cycling was to be allowed:April 2022: RTE.ie reported how there was Mixed reactions as Dublins Capel Street to go traffic free and this also included how cycling was to be allowed:Emergency vehicles will have access to the street at all times and cycling will also still be allowed.May 2022:The Irish Times ran an article with the headline Capel Street becomes Dublins longest traffic-free street and standfirst Some businesses and residents remain doubtful over pedestrianisation benefits with the second paragraph explaining this included cycling:With a 400m pedestrian and cycle area stretching from Parnell Street and Ryders Row at its northern end, to Strand Street in the south, Capel Streets traffic exclusion zone exceeds both Henry Street and Grafton Street in length.September 2022The Dublin Inquirer ran an article with the headline: Capel Streets Car-Free Status Is Up for Debate Again, and within the article, it covered how: Councillors at the meeting said the decision to remove traffic from Capel Street and open it up to pedestrians and cyclists was due for a review after six months so, very soon Thecouncil reportpresented Tuesday says there has been an uptick in pedestrians and cyclists using Capel Street and a 93 percent reduction in vehicles on the street.The article linked to a Central Area Committee meeting (no longer online) from April 27th, 2022, in which it was described as follows:Back inApril, all the Central Area councillors who spoke said they were in favour of the plan to close most of Capel Street to traffic, and make space for pedestrians and cyclists.Im trying to use other sources and not just quote IrishCycle.com, but, in September 2022, this website also covered how Car-free Capel Street may be in trouble as councillors lobbied by businesses and motorists. The opening paragraph said: There is growing concern that the car-free Capel Street scheme will be removed, watered down or that cycling will be banned on what officials term as an important north-south link.However, if you had only read articles in some other publications in the same year, for example, The Journal or Breakingnews.ie, you might have missed the fact that cycling was to be allowed.Parliament StreetIt was even clearer that the changes to Parliament Street would provide for cycling. In the 2023 Dublin City Centre Transport Plan, the street was even shown with wide footpaths but a dedicated cycle path in the middle (rather than the shared surface where that now exists, same as Capel Street).Fast-forward to the public consultation for Parliament Street in May 2025, the provision for cycling was even clearer directly on the consultation page without having to read a single bit of the consultation report:As outlined in the Dublin City Transport Plan 2023, adopted in July 2024 by the elected members of Dublin City Council, and following the successful transformation of Capel Street into a traffic free environment, it is the intention to replicate this scheme on Parliament Street, introducing a car free corridor for pedestrian and cyclists on the western edge of the city centre retail core.While people might have been unaware or might have only read headlines, if people see this evidence and contuine to support Cllr Flynns claims, its total revisionism.