The Tara Bypass – what they won’t tell you

Not this time – I have in the past

I think it’s highly significant that the Greens have bowed to FF on the entire roads programme, agreeing that every project in place should go ahead. They’ll probably get locally elected mayors instead of a rerouting of the M3. If I WAS a Green party supporter, I’d be cheesed off with a raw deal like that, I can assure u…

just to clarify: The roads that are to go ahead under the agreement may comprise purely the roads for which contracts have been signed. no-one is sure yet. The M3 is still open for a re-routing in light of recent discoveries anyway.

It’s not at all definite that we will have a Green tinge on our govt. In fact 2 seniors have already rubbished the deal, which is a total shafting of progressive administration in favour of a continuation of FF-right wing-Sue-PD planning and transport policy.

No matter what the Greens do tonight, no matter what roads are built in the future, no matter what M3 is built, the unnecessary destruction of Tara comprises nothing more than state-sponsored vandalism of the most backward, regressive and idiotic kind.

@alonso wrote:

No matter what the Greens do tonight, no matter what roads are built in the future, no matter what M3 is built, the unnecessary destruction of Tara comprises nothing more than state-sponsored vandalism of the most backward, regressive and idiotic kind.

Seconded. From today’s Irish Times:

Editorial –

The Greenfingerprints

Delegates to the special Green Party conference have confronted their core values, their conscience as the protest party, swallowed hard and opted to go into government with Fianna Fáil. Their parliamentary party made a mature decision because, in the world of politics, more can be achieved in government than in opposition.

Pragmatism won out over principle and, at the end of protracted, perhaps naive and certainly most unconventional negotiations, the Greens will be cabinet members in the first three-party Fianna Fáil-led government in the history of the State. And Trevor Sargent, in keeping with his election promise, has resigned as leader. What a catharsis!

It is clear when the programme for government with Fianna Fáil is analysed that cabinet membership and future political influence took precedence over immediate policy implementation. Policies of principle, such as the use of Shannon airport by the US military and the construction of the M3 at Tara, failed to tip the balance against the required two-thirds majority.

The package of measures that went before yesterday’s conference was strong on aspiration but short on specifics. In some cases, such as local government, electoral reform and a windfall tax on land speculation, it involved a reheating of old Fianna Fáil promises. In others, important, carefully circumscribed, policy concessions were extracted. A target for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions was agreed. A carbon tax was proposed during the next five years. On the controversial hospital co-location programme, disagreement arose between the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats on what, precisely, had been agreed with Fianna Fáil.

There is no doubt that the fingerprints of the Green Party appear on key elements of the draft programme for government. But it lacks a solid Green footprint. The concessions secured are important and environmentally progressive but not, as the PDs were able to boast on entering government with Fianna Fáil in 1989, mould-breaking. Green Party negotiators have sold the draft programme as a work in progress and promised that further advances could be expected during the life of the government.

The so-called “deal breakers” that Mr Sargent specified during the course of the election campaign were quietly forgotten. A demand for extra spending on education was significantly scaled back, as was a requirement for more energy-efficient building regulations. But a €100 million fund for better home insulation was agreed. No obvious progress was made on party policy affecting tax cuts and reliefs, VAT rates and capital gains tax.

With six Dáil seats at their command, Green Party negotiators were never going to get all the concessions they wanted. In a three-party configuration, the Taoiseach, with 78 seats, could depend on the PDs and a number of Independent TDs to return him to government. It was a hard call in the end which may haunt the Greens.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Vincent Salafia is “taking legal advice”. What a joke. Is he implying that if his lawyers were to advise him NOT to take legal action that he’d comply?

No, this man of straw will be back in the Four Court quicker than you can say “on a no foal no fee basis”. Even though the courts have now ruled against him, by my rough estimate, three times. Who’s propping up this man of straw? Why don’t Salafia’s financial backers sue themselves? It’s about time the judiciary stood up to this nonsense, which has blighted almost every major infrastructural project in this country over the last decade.

Roche’s decision, taken on the advice of the National Museum, was spot on. And the Greens can stamp their feet all they like – had they made the M3 a make or break issue in the formation of government talks, Roche couldn’t have done what he did.

So long Dick. You have done the state some service. 😀

Couldn’t agree more. The M3 would never even have been an option if Dublin had been planned properly over the last 10 years and sprawl across Leinster had been contained.

Providing a motorway to Navan and Cavan will only continue to encourage developers to provide inappropriate housing on the edge of small towns and villages for long distance commuters along this route.

We still aren’t learning – the proposal to redevelop Ballsbridge at a higher density (and yes, with high rise – OMG, how scary!) would provide for hundreds of housing units close to the city centre and beside a major public transport service (DART). Going for higher densities in Dublin (not just in Ballsbridge – this will be very expensive accommodation and not a likely draw for 1st timers) surely makes better sense than forcing people to look as far away as Cavan.

Also balance this with competing urban centres other than Dublin that can provide jobs for people who live close by and stop the relentless commuting to the capital.

Point is – the M3 is simply adding another major error to the litany of mistakes already made.

Dan Boyle, posting on http://www.politics.ie has just stated

“On Tara stopping already started construction work has proved beyond us. For the record I did not say that I knew that Dick Roche was going to make his decision when he did. What I said was we knew the decision was pending. Our hope was that the decision would be left unmade and considered by John Gormley as the new minister. I have publicly stated that I was unhappy with the way the decision has been made. However I also believe that by being in charge of the departments we are we have the means of influencing the varying or the moving of the road.”

in one of a million threads on the Green government
http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=23338

I think the Greens may be useful – for want of a better word they will keep an eye on FF, and will bring otherwise unseen problems to the attention of the media.

Even though they mightnt have the numbers, they can whistle-blow a lot of FF crap that may or may not go on.

Since the N3 is a go, with or without Lismullen how about some solutions in order of preference;

1: Reroute completely (unlikely and you might hit something else)
2: Reroute around Lismullen, the world’s most historic roundabout.
3: Raise the whole of the N3 on columns as it crosses the valley, a technique used to deal with difficult terrain in Europe and an agreed technique in areas like temple bar to preserve the maximum area for archaeology. In addition it could allow continuous archaeological work.

So given the above could we have a serious investigation into 3 and put some additional monies into the project to preserve all interests…….