kefu

Just as a by the way. Here’s an extract from the biography of Mark Lynas (http://www.marklynas.org), the guy who wrote the article: ‘He was also active in the flourishing environmental direct action scene during the late 1990s, joining road protests and helping mount “decontamination” exercises against genetically-modified crops, as well as participating in Reclaim the Streets protests in London and Oxford.’
And a few select points from this campaigner’s – not journalist’s – so-called report: ‘A rising star in the Irish cabinet, [Martin] Cullen seemed to delight in his defeat of the conservationists.’ – shows a fairly basic lack of knowledge of matters as diverse as e-voting and Monica Leech Public Relations.
He writes: ‘The government’s solution is to add an extra lane to the M50 orbital motorway and upgrade its junctions to remove traffic lights. The famous Red Cow roundabout will become a mass of concrete flyovers.’ – implies that the Red Cow roundabout is famous for a good reason and that a flyover will somehow be damaging to the environment.
He writes: ‘Ireland is one of the most car-dependent countries in the world. Irish motorists drive on average 24,000km a year, far above the UK’s average of 16,000 and even topping the US’s 19,000.’ He uses this little-used statistic because car ownership rates are still low by international standards and it doesn’t suit his argument.
He writes: ‘The numbers of people commuting by car to Dublin in the morning rush hour increased by 149% between 1991 and 2001.’ But since then – the numbers of cars entering the inner ring has actually fallen.
He writes: ‘Ian Lumley, knows he is losing the battle over Ireland’s future. “You have to look at this as an American country,” – What does that even mean?
He writes: ‘Giving Dublin the classic US-style “doughnut” shape’ – this has already been sufficiently debunked.
He writes: ‘A huge McMansion there with big Georgian pillars, huge flying buttresses and greenhouses.’ – Has anybody ever seen a house in Ireland with flying buttresses because I haven’t.
He writes: ‘A Tesco is opening next door, “bringing better quality shopping and more jobs to your area”. On the far side of the road an Aldi superstore is nearly complete, and a Toyota showroom is doing its bit to inflate the car economy.’ – This is just contemptible nonsense.
As Ian Lumley puts it: “The Irish mentality is inherently antiregulation and anti-officialdom. One of the theories is that this goes back to British occupation, to dodging the constabulary, dodging the revenue, getting away from the landlord, hiding pigs under the bed, hiding chickens in the roof and so on.” – this is just hackneyed embarrassing shite.
He writes: ‘Having recently visited Stonehenge, Clancy says she was “appalled” by how close the road runs to it.’ – the road at Stonehenge runs within fifty metres of the monument. The new M3 and I’m not defending it is 2400 metres away.
He writes: ‘[Martin] Cullen left his job at arts, heritage and environment not to spend more time with his family, but to spend more time with his beloved roads – as minister for transport.’ – shows more astonishing understanding of the Irish political system and ministerial appointments.

I think he realised how condescending his original submission to Dublin City Council was. And he was trying to rectify the damage and not appear like the complete snob he is.
He was at particular pains to distinguish between the work of Office of Public Works and DCC. I think his point about Mountjoy Sq being compromised by buildings is a joke. Would he prefer the junkie haven that existed twenty years ago to the one we have now with playgrounds and community facilites.
Turning a blind eye to the very real social issues that pervade in that part of the city – and suggesting that Mountjoy Square had been “compromised” – is very easy when you live in Sandycove and work on Fitzwilliam Square and probably only venture North of the Liffey to go to the airport.

Here’s the letter:-
Madam, – Paul Cullen, in his report of December 4th, on submissions to the Dublin City Plan, omitted my proposal that Dublin City Council should outline its vision for Fitzwilliam Square to the public before embarking on a policy of acquiring and managing it.
Dublin City once had five major urban gardens. Today St Stephen’s Green is excellently managed by the Office of Public Works which has maintained its 19th century character and permitted only the occasional well designed and well located sculptures. Of the Georgian Squares, Parnell Square is built over. Mountjoy Square is compromised by buildings.
In Merrion Square, it is my view that the very high standards adopted by the City Council to control the character of the Georgian buildings around the Square are not extended to Archbishop Ryan Park which I feel is being eroded by inappropriate works.
As regards Fitzwilliam Square, I have no objection whatsoever to the principle of public access – indeed the OPW have shown the way in their admirable opening up of Iveagh Gardens to the public whilst maintaining and enhancing their original character.
However, I would be concerned if public ownership resulted in a loss of the pristine character of the last remaining Georgian garden in the city. – Yours, etc.,
FERGAL McCABE, SUMMERHILL PARADE, SANDYCOVE, CO DUBLIN

Devin wrote: ‘Eh, it’s a city of 10 million people & takes up not a huge amount more space than Dublin.’
That’s just not true, Devin.
If we consider the M25 as the equivalent of the M50 (even though both London and Dublin sprawl out even further) – the M25 is 150 miles long while the M50 by my very rough calculations (and including the non-existent Eastern Bypass) would be about 50 miles long if completed.
That’s only three times as much in distance terms but in area, using my very basic sums London works out at 1,786 sq miles,
Dublin by the same token even though it isn’t circular and thus loses area in Dublin Bay would be less than 290 sq miles,
You can say that Dublin now extends as far as Drogheda, Kildare, Wicklow Town etc if you want.
But remember, an awful lot of the people who live in Guildford, Milton Keynes, and so on also commute to London for work.

That article is more akin to something you would see on Indymedia than in a proper newspaper. It’s more a polemic than it is a report. He talks about windfarms as some kind of panacea for all our problems yet it is conservationists who have opposed most of the wind farm plans. A lot of the points he makes are accurate, I just think the tone is a little rash.
Also, just on a point of interest regarding the M50 – the original plan for the junction at the Red Cow was for a single-level signal-controlled roundabout. It was only after a lot of lobbying that this was changed to a grade-separated junction.
When in reality what we needed all along was three-level junctions at all the major intersections of the M50. I read on Platform 11 that only the junctions between the Airport and the Red Cow should be made into spaghetti junctions.
But thas is exactly the thought process that will leave Tallaght, Dundrum and Sandyford gridlocked in years to come.
Saying that the redeveloped M50 won’t meet capacity, so therefore we should just leave it alone, is just moronic.

Ah sure why can’t they use the front of the Central Bank like they always do

There’s no Boardwalk on the southern quays because the sun is more likely to fall on the other side.
I felt at the beginning that it was a gimmicky project but I think it has been the greatest recent success of the City Council, apart from the regeneration of O’Connell Street.
No amount of traffic restriction on the quays would have ever led to a situation where you could have hundreds of people sitting out: reading, drinking coffee as is the case with the Boardwalk on any relatively warm day.
Even when the Port Tunnel is open, I don’t think walking along the outer path of the quays would ever be particularly pleasant because of its narrowness. There were still be plenty of buses and cars whizzing by at 35 miles an hour.

I also agree. I think it will do absolutely nothing to bring new audiences to the theatre. It’s all well and good talking about a cultural quarter but the existence of Hugh Lane, Dublin Writer’s Museum, the Gate and the Wax Museum have already failed to bring any great vitality to this area – why would the new Abbey change the trend of a generation? Some other use could easily be found for those fine buildings.
I feel that jamming cultural institutions into ill-suited spaces (IMMA, Collins Barracks, the forced changes to the National Gallery), has been a failure in many ways.
It would make more sense for the Dept of Health to move up to the Mhuire and take this opportunity to get rid of Hawkins House and get a genuine landmark building in its place.
Personally, I’d love to see the majority of buildings in that Hawkins St area, Apollo House, Hawkins House, the Screen cinema levelled to make way for a National Theatre, a rebuilt Screen cinema, and so on.
There is so much emphasis put on the rejuvenation of the Docklands and the Smithfield area that it’s forgotten that just a hundred yards from Westmoreland Street, there is an area literally dying on its feet, including at least a half-dozen derelict shops (along Tara Street) as well as the highest percentage of bad architecture (apart from Ballsbridge) in the city.

Nor should we ever forget that the Fianna Fail Ardfheis was going on in the abominably disgusting Citywest Hotel even as this illegal monstrosity was first being erected.
The worst thing about this is that when it’s built – it could scupper plans for a real world-class city conference centre. All the local politicians will be wheeled out saying ‘why do we need a conference centre?’ when we already have this.

I’ve always suspected that any congestion charge introduced in Dublin could not apply to people who are resident inside the border of the Grand Canal and the North/South Circular Roads.
Otherwise, you would have to pay a fee just to visit your own home.

Diaspora, anybody going Northside to Southside will rarely if ever drive as far as Matt Talbot Bridge because the traffic light there allows about four cars through on each turn.
That means if there are even twenty cars there, which there normally are – you will have a six or seven minute wait.

To return to the subject, I think College Green should be effectively pedestrianised and all but taxis, buses and car park traffic banned a-la St Stephen’s Green East. Traffic will be slowed but it is hard to imagine it going any slower.
Banning traffic from turning right onto O’Connell Bridge and then funnelling down Townsend Street does not, however, contribute to reducing traffic flow on College Green.
From a personal point of view, it would make my particular drive in the morning from Stoneybatter to Ballsbridge, which I used to go via Stephen’s Green for, an even bigger nightmare.
And please don’t offer me any more route advice, I know practically every single road and shortcut in the north and south city.