Whatever you say Minister

Transport 21, the Government’s much hyped and little thought out super plan for delivering what in most developed countries would be considered an acceptable transport system is already dead.

The  big loser, as usual will be that small bit of the country where three quarters of the population live – also known as “not Dublin”. Currently motorways from Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford to Dublin are under construction. These will be finished but apart from that there will be little to cheer about for what are derisorily described as “the regions”.

The obvious thing to do now, while times are tight would be to ramp up the investment in national infrastructure. There are a number of reasons for doing so, in tougher economic times you get more bang for your buck, the investment will see the country come back stronger and more competitive when the recovery comes and it will also help to soften the blow of massive redundancy levels currently being experienced in the construction sector.

For all these reasons it would be prudent to borrow to increase the pace of delivery of Transport 21. This is not being done however. Delayed projects such as the South Ring flyovers, North Ring Road and new Cork-Limerick road are already on the long finger, as for light rail in Cork or trains from Cork to Galway via Limerick – forget it.