Parliament Street in Dublin city to be traffic-free from next week

Eva Osborne

Dublin City Council has announced that Parliament Street in the city centre will be traffic-free from next Friday, July 4th.

To celebrate the change of use of the space, a market will be held on July 4th, with events scheduled to take place every weekend in July, starting on July 5th.

The street is currently dominated by pedestrians, with up to 23,000 people passing through the street a day.

The proposed measure plans to permanently reallocate the space to walking and cycling whilst also providing greening and public seating.

The council said the space will provide an attractive north-south pedestrian and cycle route between City Hall and Bolton Street by linking with Capel Street as well as being a link between the east and west areas of Temple Bar.

In a recent consultation (May 2025), 90 per cent of respondents were in favour of enhancing public space and enabling two-way cycling.

The council said the works for the interim improvements (seating, planting and surfacing) will commence on the July 7th and will take place during the summer.

The traffic movements in the area will be as follows:

• Between Essex Quay and Essex Gate - this section of Parliament Street will be permanently Traffic Free with only pedestrians and cyclists permitted in this space. The road level in this section will also be raised to the existing kerb level;
• The current west to east traffic flow between Essex Gate and Essex Street East will remain open for all vehicles at all times;
• The section of Parliament Street between Essex Gate and Lord Edward Street will be Traffic Free with deliveries allowed between 6am and 11am daily;
• Two-way cycling will be permitted on Parliament Street;
• A new two-way cycling link will be created on the east side of Grattan Bridge. The traffic lanes will be reduced to one right turn lane only on the bridge;
• A two-way cycling link will be created on the east side of Capel Street between the quays and Strand Street Little. Northbound cycling will also be permitted on Capel Street to complete a full 2 way cycling link between Dame Street and Bolton Street.