Failure to Provide Infrastructure – The Cost to our Environment & Economy

This goes without saying. Anyone living in Dublin now can look around and see what a complete and total disaster our infrastructure is. I am so tired of hearing about quality bus corridors and roads…stop building roads around the capital. We need railways. And not railways linking one side of Dublin city centre to the other. Railways linking the vast suburbs to the centre or to each other. Be it darts, trams, trains…whatever. And worse again, we can look at the southside..places such as sandyford and cherry orchard where the mistake has been made, and see what NOT to do in other areas of the city’s suburbs. To my eyes, the north of the county from,say clare hall out to balbriggan and further, is slightly less choked up in comparison. And yet, still they buy land for huge amounts of money, get planning permission for massive developments and put in no infrastructure whatsoever.
Being from the northside, I’m going to take the M1 as a prime example. It was completed around 2003.Last year, traffic lights were put in on the roundabouts at the top of the off ramp for Swords/Donabate. Traffic lights were already in place at the airport off ramp. Meanwhile, as they were putting in said traffic lights on the m1, on the M50 they were launching a massive project to build spaghetti junctions and get rid of the traffic lights….
The volume of traffic on the M1 has doubled or more since it opened. In 5 years time, they’ll probably decide to deconstruct it’s junctions (which have traffic problems, although not as bad as the m50) and build spaghetti junctions. Forward planning just doesn’t seem to exist in this country.
Developers should be under a legal obligation to provide for bus services, at minimum, with every new development. Without going into details, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. Unfortunately it’ll probably never happen.

@Daniel McConnell wrote:

As our economy tanks, with the government in exile, we reveal that despite all the rhetoric from Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen, Ireland’s economy is now in real danger of collapsing and we show how it’s all our own fault.

measured & useful comment as ever from the Sunday Indo* :rolleyes:

*we guarantee: 1. Hysterics 2. Little or no research 3. Agendas 4. Typos and 5. That the following 32 pages may or may not be true.

@Peter FitzPatrick wrote:

measured & useful comment as ever from the Sunday Indo* :rolleyes:

*we guarantee: 1. Hysterics 2. Little or no research 3. Agendas 4. Typos and 5. That the following 32 pages may or may not be true.

Lol 😀

36% of public water supplies may pose a risk
More than a third of all public water supplies have been identified as potentially risking public health and will have to be replaced, upgraded or closed down, according to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report to be published today.
Recommending an urgent, large-scale investment programme, The Provision and Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland concluded that “while many have taken the quality of drinking water in Ireland for granted in the past, this can no longer be the case”.
The report reveals that 36 per cent of public water supplies – 339 out of a total of 944 – indicated persistent problems which the EPA says must be eradicated to prevent recurring incidents of harmful pollutants such as cryptosporidium or E.coli.
The situation with private group water schemes was even more bleak, with 36 per cent of schemes having had an actual episode of contamination.
The report differs from previous water quality reports in that in addition to test results for the latest period, 2006-2007, it also assesses “security” of public water supplies – in effect a pre-emptive bid to identify weaknesses in supply systems before pollution is discovered and boil notices are issued.
As a result of the findings the EPA has notified local authorities that they must complete one of the largest assessments ever undertaken of their water services by February 28th next.
The authorities have been asked to tell the EPA what monitoring systems are in place; what the monitoring systems are looking for; what upgrades are necessary; what programme is in place to deliver any necessary upgrades; and when such upgrades will be completed.
The action is partly driven by a finding by the European Court of Justice that Ireland’s water services are, in some cases, substandard. The European Commission is seeking to have Ireland brought back before the court for failure to improve this situation.
Although testing has traditionally indicated very high drinking water quality levels in Ireland, the EPA’s director of environmental enforcement Dara Lynott said the statistics alone could be misleading.
He instanced, for example, the report’s finding that acceptable quality was found in 99.1 per cent of samples tested for E.coli pollution. Although this appeared to be a good result, more than 10,000 samples had been analysed for E.coli and 98 were deemed deficient.
The key question was how many people were served by water from services where the 98 deficient samples were recorded, he said. Overall the testing – for E.coli and other pollutants – revealed just under 82 per cent of people with public water supplies had acceptable water quality. “That is just unacceptable,” Mr Lynott said.
Remedial work is expected to cost tens of millions of euro but a full estimate will not be available until later this year. Mr Lynott said that of the 339 public water supplies with persistent problems, “some could require only the fitting of a low-chlorine-level alarm”, which could cost between €3,000 and €5,000.
However, some water treatment plants might have to be replaced and it was likely that a €50 million contingency fund provided by Minister for the Environment John Gormley would be fully utilised, he said.
The EPA has refused to identify the 339 water services it has placed on an “amber list” pending detailed assessment reports from the local authorities. But it did supply details of some 77 services where E.coli was detected at least once in the 2006-2007 period.
The report also provides details of 43 public water supplies that were contaminated with E.coli more than once during the period 2004-2006. A large proportion of these were in the south of the country. (See accompanying map)
The report can be accessed online at http://www.epa.ie
EPA water report: main points
• 339 out of a total of 944 public water supplies have now been placed on an “amber alert” by the EPA. An amber alert is defined as a potential risk to human health.
• 77 of the 944 public water supplies have had at least one actual experience of E.coli contamination in the last two years (2006-2007).
• E.coli was detected in 246 of the State’s 688 private group water schemes in the last two years.
• 123 public group water schemes continue to have inadequate monitoring.
• Since the introduction of new regulations in March last year the EPA issued 22 binding directions to 12 local authorities in order to restore a “clean and wholesome” water supply.
• 28 audits of local authorities were carried out by the EPA in 2007. Issues were identified at all treatment plants audited.
• 21 water supply systems collectively serving more than 113,000 people either had a boil water notice, or another form of restriction (such as “do not use”) imposed in a six-month period from March 2007.
Tim O’Brien The Irish Times 24 Jan 08

€160m Beacon project turned down Dun Laoghaire Gazette
A multi million euro plan to build a state-of-the-art women and children’s hospital in Dundrum has been refused planning permission. The project known as the Beacon Medical Campus, is believed to be worth €160m and was to have been built in Sandyford Industrial Estate.
However, the high-profile project has been turned down by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCC), less than a month after the gazette revealed DLRCC has been forced to implement a six-month freeze on pending planning applications in the South Dublin Industrial estate.
The planning freeze was brought about because of concerns that the local sewage system has reached capacity.
……Last month the County Manager, Owen Keegan, told the Gazette: “The recent work undertaken by the Council has identified major deficiencies in the foul drainage system in the Sandyford/Stillorgan catchments areas which extends beyond the Sandyford Business estates area.”
“Given these deficiencies, I have to advise the Council that it is considered that it would not be appropriate to grant permission for any further significant developments in the area until the foul drainage infrastructure requirements are determined and the Council is satisfied that the required measures can be implemented.”……..

ODS
Basic requirements for a clean water supply and adequate foul drainage capacity must be provided for. This is a fundamental requirement. It is disturbing that following Ireland’s wealth people are rewarded with inexcusable deficits in such basics.

Planning permissions apply levies in order to provide for these services. Given we now know officially that ‘foul drainage has reached capacity’, Where was the money from planning levies spent?

kiss

got sick in galway…
and mabye dublin : )

From 6-1 news 22 March 2008 speaking on Water Supply Minister for Environment said, “I think at this stage we’ve got over the hump, we have had serious problems in relation to cryptosporidium but again we’ve made the necessary investment and if you take places like Galway, I was speaking recently to the engineer there and they’ve said to me now that Galway will have very good drinking water quality from now on.”

Crisis leaves south Galway locals near boiling point from Independent 25/03 3 days later
A FIVE-MONTH-LONG water crisis in south Galway has left local people at boiling point.
The 5,000-strong community stretching from Clarinbridge, through Kilcolgan and on to Ballindereen, have been boiling water since the start of last November when the supply became contaminated.
The HSE and Galway county council issued the “boil water” notice to all homes and businesses in the area after high incidences of the organism clostridium perfringens were detected in the Clarinbridge public water supply.

Group water schemes in the area were also affected by the notice while testing and further sampling was carried out.
In follow-up tests, trace levels of cryptosporidium were detected. And while there have been no reported cases of the gastro-intestinal illness, cryptosporidium, the “boil water” notice has remained in place ever since.
People living in the area have been comparing their situation with last year’s five-month long contamination of the public water supply in nearby Galway city and the manner in which the authorities handled that crisis.
Subsidised bottled water was made available to city households, special facilities were put in place to dispose of bottled water containers, while the business community saw their rates bill reduced.
“It’s the very same issue here as the people of Galway city experienced last year, but I’m concerned that the authorities have forgotten about Clarinbridge,” said local Senator Fidelma Healy Eames.
Senator Healy Eames added: “I want the HSE and county council to get together and decide now when the boil notice will be lifted. People here are suffering in exactly the same way as the people of Galway city did last year, but because this isn’t the city, there hasn’t been the same fuss about it.”
Eileen Finn Graham, of renowned restaurant Moran’s on the Weir in Clarinbridge, said her business has to buy in ice from outside the area, vast amounts of water have to be boiled at night and allowed to cool in order to prepare vegetables and other food.

ODS
There is a vast difference between the Minister’s declaration and the reality portrayed in the Independent article only 3 days later.

Who would pay someone for doing a job without first checking it was completed? Who would provide an assurance while knowing it to be unfounded? Who can believe political declarations when facts exist to the contrary?

Planning board seeks Ringsend sewage plant report
AN ENVIRONMENTAL report on plans to extend the modern sewage treatment plant at Ringsend has been ordered by An Bord Pleanála, on grounds the project would be “likely to have significant effects on the environment”.
The board has directed Dublin City Council to prepare the environmental impact statement (EIS) in advance of the council’s submission of a planning application to extend the plant.
The council has already told the board the extension will have greater visual impact than the original plant and “odour” was likely to be a contentious issue with any development of the facility.
The council has for several years intended to extend the plant, which currently processes the sewage of the equivalent of 1.9 million people, to a capacity of 2.2 million and possibly greater, but has had to delay because of a foul odour problem which has persisted since the plant opened in 2003.
Last December, city manager John Tierney said the odour problem would be eliminated by July, which would allow the plans for the extension, likely to cost in excess of €50 million, to proceed.
The council wrote to An Bord Pleanála late last year stating that it believed an EIS would be required for the development.
In its submission, it said there would be a “higher degree of visual impact” than had been the case with the original sewage plant because there would be an intensification of facilities on the same site. The submission also states that odour control has been a major issue with the existing plant and would be one of the most contentious aspects of the proposed extension.
In his report, the board’s inspector said the council could have conducted an EIS without asking the board, but he said it was his recommendation that an EIS should be prepared.
The development was likely to have significant effects on the environment because of its size, capacity and “other cumulation effects including that of the adjoining waste-to-energy facility [Poolbeg incinerator]
Irish Times 26 Mar 08