It now looks like the following cutbacks are seriously planned according to my man in the high places .
No new road projects to start at all . This particularly affects Galway although a part of the N18 may slither in before the announcement but certainly not the City bypass or N17 .
No Interconnector .
No Metro North.
NRA to be cannibalised into nothingness .
One or two grades in HSE to be abolished .
One grade in Local government to be abolished .
Stacks of mini quangos to be abolished.
Decentralisation drastically accelerated to force the issue, move it or lose it.
All water and sewage schemes to be CBA’d by the department , a very limited number will be allowed to proceed over the next few years .
10 All school construction schemes to be rigourously CBA’d by the department , a very limited number will be allowed to proceed over the next few years where amalgamations are possible .
Millions of little cutbacks and hiikes like the application for a bar extension cost went from €200 per to €450 per last week.
The important bit is that this will all be done by March 2009 . It cannot wait until after the Local elections any more.
Even with all that the government will breach ECB deficit rules in 2009 .
It is hoped thats some small extra CAPEX may again be possible in 2010 .
Fuck St. Stephen’s Green… Metro North is essential and needs to be expanded rapido.
Fianna Fail will be decimated in Dublin North if this doesn’t go ahead. Not that they’ve got a leg to stand on in the council elections but I think people might remember this one come 2012!!! We were supposed to have Metro North then!!!
Interconnector is vital if Dublin is to develop a high capacity commuter rail network. It is well worth some disruption of Stephen’s Green for a few years
Firstly, thanks to 2pack. From recent conversations, I get the feeling that joe public is prepared to sacrifice capex (just leave health and eductaion more or less alone) - just the feeling I get.
Abolishing Metro North would be a disaster. I think Im correct in saying that this is meant to be the rail link to the airport. This is badly needed. Are we seriously saying that after 15 years of unparalleled economic growth that we will still be the only major city in Europe that I am aware of that doesnt have a proper public transport service to the airport ie one that doesnt require people to tune into AA roadwatch to determine what time they need to leave to head out there. The aircoach is not sufficient and average taxi costs are anything up to 50 quid.If this is axed you can forget about any pretensions anybody has toward all the other knowledge economy etc guff. If business people cannot get around the city they will not come. The short sightedness of this, if true, is sickening. I still think we should wait and see on this one though as it wont go down well IMO and could cause a bit of a backlash
what backlash? how will it manifest itself? There are only a tiny number of TD seats affected.
FF will have been in power for 15 years and many of their TDs have been sitting longer than that; they’ll get thrown out of Government and retire on a nice big pension.
Who’ll care that the game is up if they’ve been well taken care of in their retirement.
I agree. I think this should be built even if it means we go in the red. In fact I think a lot of infrastructure should be built even if it means we go in the red. If this government ends up giving a bail-out while at the same time reducing spending on the infrastructure that we’ve needed for the past 15 years I’m going to be appalled. I expect very little of an FF-led government but surely even they couldn’t the that useless. Please? Say it ain’t so Joe - say it ain’t so.
While I’m all for infrastructural investment, the one item on the list that has long really galled me is the Connolly-Hueston Interconnector.
There already exists not one, but two perfectly servicable and usable rail links between these two stations. The first, is the visible surface track that runs from Hueston, via Abour Hill, Cabra, Phibsboro and links into the Dublin-Kildare line and on to Connolly. The second is the existing tunnel linking the stations that is available for passenger trains (it has been used for such in the recent past). While this exiting tunnel can not accodomate the currenct stock of DART carriges, it is available as a transport asset today. According to reports, Irish Rail did not consider the upgrade of the existing surface track to carry overhead power lines in order to accommodate DART carriages as an alternative when pricing the interconnector.
And since this is Ireland… they won’t deliver on the interconnector or Metro North but will be introducing a congestion charge instead.
But not to raise money like… oh no…
I think you are slightly confused. There exists one line from Heuston to Connolly under a tunnel in the Phoenix Park through the areas you mention.
It isnt the best solution for delivering a high frequency DART service directly to the city centre that the Interconnector would bring (and Dublin needs).
Why it isn’t used currently to bring Kildare line commuters closer to the city is just another example of the shameful waste of resources in this country.
I am aware of the tunnel you refer and I am continually mystified as to why CIE refuse to consider upgrading this tunnel for more regular usage. Does anybody know the origin of this refusal? It seems completely against all good sense to me.
