A DUBLIN City Council official has called for a ban on parents driving their children to school as part of a plan to meet air quality targets by 2030.
Brendan O'Brien was speaking at clean air conference The Climate Brave when he made the comments, where he admitted that a number of "difficult and potentially unpopular decisions" would need to be made in order to meet the city's targets.
The Irish Times reports that Mr O'Brien said that if it were up to him he would "make it illegal for anybody to drive their kids to school".
This, he says, would prioritise the need for improved public transport, walking and cycling facilities, which would "eliminate the reason a lot of people say they need to drive".
"It’s not that we don’t understand that people have to do this," he told the conference, but the "massive pressure" that would come from a ban on dropping children to school would enable the Government to "provide all the alternatives quickly".
Mr O'Brien went on to suggest that incentives are needed to encourage people to make environmentally positive changes, such as a tax break for eco-friendly delivery vehicles and the introduction of low-emission zones within the city.
Dublin is the first Irish city to commit to reaching the World Health Organisation targets on clean air, known as the BreatheLife campaign.
It has joined 76 other regions, cities and countries worldwide which are committed to improving air quality and collaborating on solutions to bring about cleaner air across the globe.
See More: Clean Air, Dublin
