This plan, while lovely on paper needs to be taken seriously and immediate action is needed in a number of areas.
Instead of being a great way of wallpapering over the problems that the city has at the moment and like a lot of proposals often all talk and minimal action we need urgent action to ensure that our city becomes a city that is liveable, friendly to people and above all attractive.
We're a city that is 20 years behind a number of European cities and often lagging behind other Irish cities too.
The pandemic has shown how slow the city was to shift on the wave of putting people first. We also need to shift from the habit of saying and playing politics to the doing.
To catch up we need to follow the lead of cities that are working around Ireland and more so across Europe. Cities that have working transport models. Cities that have working active transport models. And cities that are reclaiming the city for the people in terms of reliable public transport(bus, train, light-rail, harbour clipper boat) car-free footpaths and loading bays, connected cycleways, clean and healthy air, and natural wonder in the river Lee and harbour that is accessible and used to the full potential.
Instead of paving over parts of the city and quays with more stone and concrete, we should be creating parklets, removing parking, encouraging active and public transport. The disturbing paving over of everything green along with the over-reliance on the private car is a sad sight to see in what could be a thriving and healthy city with trees, parks and the health and safety of people put before others.