Urgent Review of Dublin 'Bus Gate' demanded

Dublin city centre businesses have called for an urgent review of the car-free zone at College Green, claiming it has "caused a serious decline in trade".

A hastily arranged meeting of business people in the city heard that Thursday night trade in particular has been badly affected by the 'bus gate'. (Thursday is still the day when most Irish people receive their weekly wages, and various social welfare payments are made on Thursdays as well.)

The operator of the Brown Thomas car park said that "trade is down 75% in the evenings".

The Dublin 'bus gate' came into operation at the end of July, banning private cars from passing Trinity College during morning and evening rush hours.

Dublin City Council has promised a review of the situation next January.

However, Fine Gael Councillor Gerry Breen said that "many shop workers could be on the dole by then".

A spokesman for Dublin City Council declared it will "look at ways of encouraging shoppers who travel in cars into the city".
He said that it seemed the 'bus gate' had been "a success for bus passengers and pedestrians".

But, as in so many other Irish cities and towns, a reduction of traffic in city centres also means a reduction of business there.

The Emerald Islander

Motorways by Name only

Many countries in Europe, as well as on other continents, have an excellent system of roads. But Ireland does not. Many countries also have a network of motorways, and - again - Ireland is not among them. What we have on this island of ours is a patchwork of national, regional and local roads, interspersed with roadlets and paths that have not changed much over the past two or three centuries.

When most of Ireland's roads were designed and built, it was predominantly the (then British) military that was doing it, and for obvious reasons.
Thousands of years ago the ancient Egyptians, the Persians and other great empires had built roads to move their soldiers around faster, and the Romans became the true masters of strategic road building. Every major country in the world has learned from them and given attention to important roads.

However, Ireland is not a major country, and it was never touched by Roman civilisation.

This one can still notice here today. Most of our roads were built between the late 18th and early 20th century, and they were built for the usual traffic of the time: people on horseback, horse-drawn coaches and carriages, carts drawn by horses, oxen or donkeys, and people on foot.
And even though most of Irish roads are meanwhile covered with tarmac, they are still winded, quite narrow (especially when one compares them with roads in other countries) and often in need of maintenance we cannot afford.

Until about 30 years ago Ireland did not have any motorway at all. And it did not need one. Then some of the wider national roads around Dublin were designated as 'motorways', in order to give us a more modern look and impress a number of foreign visitors. We still had no real motorways, but pretence is a great thing for the Irish. And if one does it well here and pretends things long enough, people will actually believe that they exist. (Just think of leprechauns and the faireys...)

During the years of pretended economic boom, the period of the - once worshipped and now cursed - 'Celtic Tiger', a few new motorways have been constructed in Ireland. Most of them are in and around Dublin, and some of them were built with private money and are now operated as toll roads. They have the same traffic jams and congestions as all other roads, but their greedy operators charge motorists an arm and a leg for the privilege to crawl over their piece of tarmac instead of some other, a mile or two away.

But even with the new additions to the system, Ireland still has a very bad road network, and almost no motorways. If you want to see the real thing, you have to travel to Germany, where the motorway was invented in the 1930s. There most of them have six lanes as a rule, with some major sections being even wider and providing eight or even ten lanes.

What we have here in Ireland are mostly modernised national roads, in some sections widened to four lanes. But to make us look a little bigger and more important than we actually are, Noel Dempsey (right), currently Minister for Transport, has now "re-classified" 294.3 km of national roads as "motorways".

They are really motorways by name only, and nothing has changed on these roads, except that the speed limit has been increased from 100 km/h (the standard for national roads) to 120 km/h.
Under general traffic laws the new 'motorways' cannot be used by any learner-drivers, motorcycles and "certain types of agricultural vehicles".

One can understand the ban of agricultural vehicles. It makes sense and is the same in most other countries. As there are no 'learner-drivers' elsewhere - with exception of the UK - the question of them using motorways does not arise in other nations. But why ban motorcycles from our 'motorways'? Motorcyclists can use all roads in other countries, and there seem to be no problems with them, as long as they obey the rules of the road like everyone else.

This whole 're-classification' of roads is another example for the confusion and incomptence of our government in general, and for the specific incompetence of Noel Dempsey in particular. The man is useless and clueless, and has demonstrated this in several government departments he was in charge of. And Transport makes no difference to 'the bouncer' from Co. Meath.

The real joke - unfortunately not a good one - is the list of roads that are now 're-classified' as 'motorways'. If you expect a number of lengthy and well-developed sections of overland roads, you will be disappointed.

But then again, this is Ireland, so what can you really expect?

To begin with, of the 294.3 km of national roads that Noel Dempsey has pompously "re-classified as motorways" yesterday, less than half actually exist at present!
Only 42.6% (125.5 km) exist and are 'open for traffic', while 47.9% (140.8 km) are still 'under construction' and 9.5% (the 28 km section of the N 18 from Oranmore to Gort in Co. Galway) is only 'in planning'.

The longest part of newly re-classified 'motorway' that is actually open for traffic is a 21 km section of the N 11 between Arklow in Co. Wicklow and Gorey in Co. Wexford.
The rest is nothing but a higgledy-piggledy patchwork of small to medium-sized pieces all over the country, with the shortest being a section of the N 3 (from Dublin to Cavan) between Littlepace and Loughsallagh, which is just 2.1 km long.

This means that motorists driving on Ireland's national roads in future will constantly have to watch if they are on a stretch of official 'motorway' with 120 km/h speed limit, or on a normal national road with only 100 km/h limit. It will lead to even more confusion than there is now, and most likely to more speeding tickets for drivers who think that they are still on a 'motorway', while they have in fact passed it already.

The whole thing is nothing but a farce, another sick joke from an utterly clueless minister in an incompetent government that is simply not capable of doing anything right.

The Emerald Islander

Thunderstorms and torrential Rainfalls caused severe Flooding, Damage and Chaos in Dublin

Nine days after the Gweedore area on the Atlantic coast of Co. Donegal (in the far North-West of Ireland) was hit by downpours of heavy rain and subsequently affected by severe flooding (see my entries of June 23rd & 24th), similar weather conditions have occurred on a much larger scale in several parts of the island.

In the early hours of this morning - especially in the three hours between about 2 am and 5 am - a series of sudden thunderstorms with torrential downpours of rain hit areas in the South and East, as well as parts of the Midlands. But the most severely affected area today was Dublin.

Massive rainfall of up to 40 mm per hour overwhelmed the drainage system in the capital and caused severe flooding on the north-side of the city, in particular in Howth, Malahide, Drumcondra, Glasnevin (left), Clontarf and Donnycarney.

By about 5 am many areas of Dublin were affected by the floods, which caused the early morning traffic to be seriously disrupted and come to a complete standstill on some main roads. Motorists described the worst hit areas in the Dublin area as "akin to swimming pools".

According to Gardaí the southbound slip road at the junction of the M 1/M 50 interchange in the North of Dublin is affected, as are Newlands Cross on the N 7 and Rathcoole.
The M 1 at the entrance to the Dublin Port Tunnel is "barely passable on one lane only". The other three lanes are impassable. People have also been asked to avoid the coast road in particular.

The N 11, which was closed this morning from Booterstown Avenue to Fosters Avenue, has now reopened. There are however still problems southbound at the Loughlinstown Roundabout.

Flooding was also reported from the areas of Collins Avenue, Richmond Road, Sherrard Street, Clanmoyle Road (right) and many other districts of Dublin's inner city.

The Dublin Fire Brigade has appealed to people not to travel this morning, unless absolutely necessary. In particular it is asking people not to drive into areas where roads are flooded, as there is a real risk they will become stranded.

As I write this, many roads in and around Dublin are still affected by flooding, and some DART (Dublins city railway) services are also not operating because of water on the tracks.

According to Met Éireann (the national meteorological office) more than two weeks' of average rainfall was recorded this morning at Dublin Airport in just one hour.
However, the airport remains open and a spokesperson said that flights were not affected. But passengers are advised to give themselves extra time getting to the airport because of flooding on some of the approach roads.

In the North of Dublin's inner city the greatest damage reported so far was caused in Sherrard Street, where 20 people had to be evacuated from their apartments by members of the Civil Defence Force at around 4 am.

Serious damage has also been reported from the Mater Hospital (left), which is one of Dublin's largest medical facilities. Their Accident & Emergency department has been flooded and remains closed.
A flat roof in the old part of the hospital has also collapsed, and a number of patients had to be moved from one of the wards.
In announcements on RTÉ Radio and local radio stations people have been asked not to come to the hospital for acute treatment in the A&E sector for the time being.
A hospital spokeswoman advised that people with outpatient appointments today could attend as normal, while those scheduled to have elective surgery should contact the hospital before leaving their home to check if their appointment has been affected.

The Fire Brigade was also called to a residential house in Monkstown, Co. Dublin, where the roof has collapsed.

Iarnród Éireann (the Irish railways) announced that all their services are "running as normal again", after they were earlier experiencing disruption due to flooding.
In particular, flooding at Dún Laoghaire had disrupted rail services on the line between Dalkey and Dún Laoghaire.
However, the railway station at Bayside is still closed due to flooding and no DART trains are stopping there. Passengers are being asked to use the Sutton or Howth Junction stations as an alternative. Dublin Bus says it is accepting rail tickets in the area.

This morning a spokesman for Dublin City Council has said that "potentially any house in the capital could have been flooded overnight". This statement has surprised and alarmed many citizens who wonder how safe it actually is to live in Dublin.

City Council emergency staff and members of the Civil Defence Force had been on standby since a weather warning was issued by Met Éireann at 9 pm las night. They went out once rain began to fall at 2 am, but the severe force of the weather soon overwhelmed all attempts of organised damage limitation.

Meanwhile people have criticised Dublin City Council for negligance and for not maintaining the drainage and sewerage system properly. Only in August of last year Dublin experienced a spell of similar bad weather, which caused widespread flooding in some areas. Afterwards City Council officials promised to improve the drainage system and work on better protective measures. But residents affected by today's floods say that "nothing has been done" and that many properties are in serious danger. Apart from August 2008, the last time Dublin was hit by weather of this severity was thirteen years ago.

Here in the South-East we also experienced torrential rain, but it was by far not as severe as in Dublin.
I woke up shortly after 3 am from the noise of loud thunder and heavy rain falling onto the roof of my house with amazing speed. It sounded almost like a massive crescendo created by a band of wild drummers. When I got up and looked out of the window, I saw rainfall of a severity we have not experienced here in many years. It appeared as if someone was standing on the roof, emptying barrels of water without pause.
However, there have been so far no reports of flooding or damage in our area, and I am happy to say that at present the rain has stopped here.

But the flood peril might not be over yet. According to Met Éireann the current weather system coming into Ireland from across the Atlantic is still "a massive low front" and more heavy rain is expected over the coming days.
Gerald Fleming, chief meteorologist at Met Éireann, said the warm and humid weather we experienced over the past two weeks was the main cause for this morning's thunderstorms. And there could well be more to come, together with torrential rainfall.

Somehow this all reminds me of last year's washed-out 'summer', and I can only hope that after the low front has passed over us eventually, some warmer weather with sunshine will come back to Ireland. It is bad enough to be in a deep economic recession and ruled by a totally incomptent government. But when the weather is turning against us as well, it is almost too much to bear.

The Emerald Islander

New Motorway in Co. Cork

A new stretch of modern motorway (photo) between Fermoy and Mitchelstown in the north-east of Co. Cork opened to traffic for the first time this afternoon.

The new motorway part, whose building cost € 174 million, was completed nine months ahead of schedule.

This is good news for motorists and means that all but a 40-km-long segment of the overland road from Dublin to Cork is now at motorway or dual carriageway standard.

The final remaining section, which is currently under construction, will link the Portlaoise bypass with the M 8 motorway at Cullahill in Co. Laois and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2010.

Dublin in Traffic Chaos over Bus Drivers' Strike

Dublin Bus services are in disarray and many city routes face severe disruption as a result of an unofficial work stoppage by numerous drivers at the company's bus depots.

The strike action began already yesterday morning, when drivers stopped working in sympathy with a colleague on route 128. This driver was suspended by the management "for refusing to work to a new schedule".

Trade unions had accepted Labour Court recommendations on the bus company's € 31 million cost-cutting measures that included a reduction of the fleet by 120 buses.
Most of the drivers are unhappy with new schedules which were coming into effect yesterday and had been recommended by the Labour Court.

Dublin Bus routes that will have no service at all are the numbers 4 and 4A, 13 and 13A, 17A, 33B, 40, 102, 128, 140, 142, 237, 238, 239 and 270.
There is also disruption to at least ten routes, partly serviced by drivers and buses from the Harristown depot. These are the numbers 37 and 37X, 38 and 38C, 39 and 39X, 41 and 41X, 43 and 70.

The drivers claim that while the broad proposals had been accepted by their unions over a week ago, the working arrangements for drivers on each of the routes affected by the cuts had to be worked out locally before the implementation of the cuts.
They said agreement had been reached on all but one of the routes due to be cut or changed. And when the first driver turned up to work that one route - the 128 - yesterday morning, he refused to operate the new schedule and was suspended, prompting the action by the other drivers at the depot.

There were already serious implications and traffic disruptions all throughout Dublin yesterday. But today, on a normal working day, things are a lot worse. Tens of thousands of commuters who rely on the services of Dublin Bus to get from their homes to their places of work are affected by the bus drivers' dispute. Many did not manage to reach work at all, and many more arrived late, in cases up to four hours late.
Others, who - in anticipation of the bus strike - decided to come into the city by car, had not much joy either. The increase in private cars coming in, together with some bus routes operating irregular intervals, while others operate normal as always and some are shut down completely, is causing a massive traffic chaos, with long tailbacks and traffic jams on all major city streets and ringroads.

But while hundreds of thousands of Dubliners (and the visitors to our capital) are suffering from the various elements of this complete chaos and breakdown of organised inner city traffic, the man responsible is enjoying himself on a day out in the country. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey (right) decided not to bother at all with Dublin today and to stay for another fine day in his rural constituency of Co. Meath, which is not so far from the capital, but far enough to escape the traffic chaos and the angry bus drivers.

Noel Dempsey, one of the most pigheaded and incompetent of Fianna Fáil's politicians, is now in his fourth ministerial job at cabinet level. After being a junior minister and the government 'chief whip' from 1992 to 1994, Dempsey was promoted to the cabinet in 1997 as Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government. After the 2002 election Bertie Ahern moved him to Education & Science, and in September 2004 Dempsey moved again, this time to Communications, Natural Resources and the Marine. In each of these three positions he proved to be a complete disaster. He dreamed up the introduction of electronic voting machines for Ireland in his first cabinet job, and it took more than ten years to decide to get rid of them eventually.
As Education Minister he upset the Curriculum and many teachers, and after his spell in charge of the Marine the department was so wrecked and depleated of resources that it was abolished in 2007 and incorporated into the Department of Transport, to which Dempsey was moved subsequently.

He has absolutely no idea about traffic and transport, and his only real involvement in that matter was the fact that he and his brother bought up most of the land in Co. Meath that was later allocated - and thus bought by the government for a much higher price - to the route of the controversial M 3 motorway.
Since last December Dempsey has been working hard to undermine the already weak system of public transport in Ireland (see my entries of December 17th, 2008 and January 20th, 2009). Part of that process are fare increases and budget cuts for the state-owned transport company Coras Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) and its component parts Iarnród Éireann (Irish Railways), Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus. The most severe measures, including the cuts of bus routes and decommissioning of 120 buses, Dempsey applied to Dublin Bus.

He is the one man solely responsible for today's traffic chaos, and for a lot more damage to this country's transport system. Every day he remains in the cabinet and in charge of Transport, things can only get worse.

The Emerald Islander

Traffic Restrictions at Dublin Airport

Passengers travelling to Dublin Airport are being advised of temporary access restrictions on the Departures Road.

There will be no public pick-up or drop-off allowed in front of the terminal building from 8 pm this evening (January 26th) until 4 am on Thursday, February 5th.

Users of buses and taxis will not be affected.

The restrictions are imposed because of road works being carried out as part of the construction of the new Terminal 2.

A dedicated passenger drop-off area will be in place to the rear of the multi-storey car park

"eFlow" is a Shambles

Less than two weeks ago I wrote about the organised highway robbery of Irish toll roads, which is now done completely electronically and without employing any longer people in toll plazas.

As I decided to boycott the system and never use the M 50 motorway around Dublin, I do have of course no personal experience with eFlow, as the rip-off is now called to make it sound snappy.

But I just read two entries - in the blogs of Eoin Brazil and John Browne - that tell in detail how the eFlow online payment system works. Or rather not works, I should say, as both bloggers describe in detail how they struggled in frustration when they tried to hand over their € 3 toll fee.

This confirms my initial worries and suspicions about eFlow (see my entry from August 31st) and in fact things are actually worse than I thought. If you are interested, have a look at the entries of Eoin and John and read it for yourself. The links are:

http://braz.blogspot.com/2008/09/eflowie-broken-and-lacking-any-ia-or.html

and

http://www.johnbrowne.ie/?p=47

If you have any common sense, you follow my example and boycott the M 5o as well. Or if you are a good lawyer, perhaps you might think of making a name for yourself by challenging the eFlow rip-off in court. Good Luck!

The Emerald Islander

P.S. It is interesting and quite telling that the place from which eFlow is operated is not even in Ireland, but in Bristol / England. And there I was, thinking this country is independent from the UK ...

Highway Robbery - now online in Ireland

I am sure you are familiar with the phrase: Having your cake and eat it. It is used when any person in a situation of choosing would like to have both options simultaneously, even though only one of them is available. Well, as Ned Kelly put it so nicely a long time ago: Such is life. You cannot have it all and must make your choice or decision.

Except if you are the private company that runs the tolling system on the M 50 motorway around Dublin. Then you seem to have 'the right' to collect money from anyone using that road, without setting up collection stations any longer.

Yes, fellow victims of corporate extortion and legalised highway robbery, as hard as it is to believe, since yesterday midnight the toll plaza (pictured left) one had to feed with coins every time one passed it, stands now empty and has apparently no longer any purpose in the toll-road system.

Motorists are now controlled - or some might say spied on - with a system of video cameras and high-tech electronic. Even though the barriers have disappeared, the company expects to make even more money with 'barrier-free tolling', also known by the snappy name eFlow.

In order to be properly milked by the toll-road company that still wants to take our money, even though the government has bought out the contract, one is expected to register on the website of eFlow, which means of course giving a lot of very sensitive personal data to some faceless and in a way even nameless private company whose security level, qualifications and ethical standards we do not know.
Neither do we have any control or influence over it. Motorists are given the choice of carrying a permanent 'tag', which means that someone somewhere - without a name or face - can know any position of any participating car at any given time. Big Brother says Hello!

Alternatively one can 'open an account' (the 'Terms & Conditions' of which run to 28 paragraphs, all with many sub-paragraphs, which of course each motorist will read and understand to the very last t...) with them online and pay each time one's number plate is registered on the M 50 by their spy cameras. In order to comply with their rules one can pay in advance - in case one does know beforehand that one is traveling in the area and using the toll road - or afterwards. In the latter case one has one day to pay, as one "must pay by 8 pm on the following day". Must... well, one does wonder what the actual legal situation is.

What about tourists, as well as cars, buses and lorries from foreign countries? If they decide not to pay, how will eFlow get money from them? And how would foreigners know about this very odd system, not used anywhere else, in the first place? I have the strong feeling that we have been - once again - led up a very long garden path by people who grow rich and fat on the money earned by everyone else. And now they are not even prepared to make the slightest effort to get it from us any longer. Now Irish turkeys are supposed to vote happily for Christmas.

In case someone does not pay his € 3 (for once passing a 'toll point') within that set period, there will be a 'penalty' of € 3 extra. "If you fail to pay the toll and this € 3 penalty within the next 14 days, a further penalty of € 40 will be levied." So says the eFlow website. But it gets better. "Failure to pay the full amount due within a further 56 days will result in an additional € 100 penalty. Then, if you still have not paid the total amount due, legal proceedings will be initiated."

Which means that at some stage someone might end up in prison, simply because the toll-road company is too mean to pay any longer the wages of the people who operated the toll plaza in the past. What kind of Mickey-Mouse-State and Banana Republic do we actually live in? And why do we have toll roads in the first place? Don't we pay enough taxes?

It is interesting to notice that the toll road - then with money collecting plaza - was actually built at a time when money was available aplenty in Ireland, including in the government coffers. Why did we not just build the roads (and motorways) needed, like they do it in other countries? Well, I am sure some old pals of FF or PD were in need of extra perks. And good old Bertie - as we well know by now - could of course never say no. Not when someone gave him money, and not when those people then came for their compensation.

I wonder what kind of bureaucratic 'brain giant' came up with the eFlow idea in the first place. And I am waiting to read and hear of cases where false number plates are used on the M 50 and then unsuspecting people receive huge toll bills they have not run up themselves...
How would one proof this? And what would be one's rights in relation to a private company that feels entitled to our money and would certainly not shy away from making threats and using a heavy-handed approach?

Personally I have a very simple solution for the problem. I will never use the M 50, so therefore I will never be asked to pay those lazy and invisible fat cats of the toll-road 'industry' any of my hard earned money. There is also another and perfectly legal alternative to paying tolls: Just use a motorcycle on the M 50, since - for reasons unknown and not explained - they are toll-free. Well, maybe the bosses of eFlow are a bunch of wild bikers...

The Emerald Islander

UPDATE

For further information how eFlow works - or rather not works - have a look at my entry from September 12th and at the blogs of Eoin Brazil and John Browne. You find the links to their blogs in my entry from September 12th.

New Car Tax rewards low CO2 Emissions

Significant changes to Ireland's Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) came into effect on Tuesday, July 1st. The main difference is that cars producing more CO2 emissions will be taxed higher than more environmentally friendly vehicles. Up to now the amount of VRT was based on the engine size of a car: the smaller the engine, the less VRT was charged.

The new VRT rates range from 14% to 36%, depending on the amount of CO2 per kilometre emitted by a vehicle. It means that more fuel-efficient and lower emission cars will be cheaper to buy, and so-called "gas guzzlers" get more expensive.

The cost of annual road tax for a car will also be based on this model, so less environmentally friendly cars will be charged higher road tax.

A full list of the new rates is available on the website of the Irish Revenue Commissioners at http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/leaflets/vrt-new-tax-regime.htm

These new regulations are among the first "green laws" developed and introduced by the Irish government as a result of the participation of the Green Party in the ruling coalition that was formed after the 2007 general election.

In the first half of this year, in the run-up to the change-over date of July 1st, a significant number of Irish people have bought and registered large cars under the old system, including many "gas guzzlers" (among them five Rolls-Royce limousines, 37 Porsches and eight massive Hummer vehicles). The new tax law only applies to new registrations after July 1st and does not effect earlier registrations.

Thus we will have to live with many of the heavily polluting cars for another while, despite the best efforts of the Green Party and its leader John Gormley (above right), who is as Ireland's Minister for the Environment responsible for the new law.

The Emerald Islander

My special Easter Wish: Save Tara!

Easter is supposed to be about resurrection and the forgiveness of sins. I therefore think that it is a good time for a fresh start and a complete re-thinking of a project which has so far caused already serious harm to the environment, great damage to one of our most important national heritage sites and even more damage to the reputation of the Green Party and especially its leader, John Gormley, TD, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

I am talking of course about the M 3 motorway project and the irreparable damage it is doing to the Hill of Tara, seat of the Ard Ri, the ancient High King of Ireland. Just before the Easter holiday a temporary agreement between the government and the National Road Authority (NRA) on one side and the anti-motorway protesters on the other has eased the tension for now. But knowing how institutions of the state work, this will not last forever, nor solve the problem.

In the past John Gormley (right) has been a reasonable man and his green credentials should give him a deeper understanding of the matter at hand, as well as for the protest against the proposed new motorway through the Skryne Valley. It is the high privilege of those we put in charge to govern the country that they have power, and that includes the power to change plans and projects as well as their mind.

It would be my special Easter wish that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government remembers his green roots, re-examines the case of the M 3 and have the courage to change its route, thus saving the Hill of Tara. I appeal to his common sense and hope he will be a listening minister who has not lost touch with the will and concerns of the people.

And if anyone would like to help me with this, it would be much appreciated. Ireland, our ancient heritage and we all would benefit greatly from such an action. So if you care - and I hope you do - then please spare a moment of your time, contact the office of John Gormley and let him know how you feel about the M 3 and the ancient Hill of Tara.

You can phone his office under 01-8882403 or - using LoCall - under 1890-202021. You could also send him an e-mail to minister@environ.ie or, if you wish to use the services of An Post, write him a postcard or letter. The address is:

Mr. John Gormley, TD
-= personal =-
Department of the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government
Customs House
Dublin

Politicians in this country are elected as representatives of the people, and not dictators who can do as they please. So we should use our right to talk to those we put into the Dáil and let them know what we think. Feel free to speak to your local TDs as well about this matter, and in particular to those who represent the government parties. Only then will they know for sure how the people see the barbaric M 3 project, and we have fulfilled our democratic duty of care as citizens of this free country. Easter especially is a time to remember that, and a very good time to repent and make a fresh start for the better.

The Emerald Islander

Cassidy's (Driving) Law

Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Oireachtas (our parliament), does not often make political headlines. Like most upper houses in democratic systems, our 60-seat Senate is a much more quiet place than Dáil Éireann, the 166-seat (lower) House of Representatives, where debates are fought strictly along party lines.
Many of the Senators belong to political parties as well, but there is also a significant contingent of independents and the general tone of debates is more collegiate and often even friendly. And though the Senate is rather active in the production and discussion of legislation, its members seldom make the national headlines.

It came therefore as a surprise when Senator Donie Cassidy (right), the Leader of Seanad Éireann, shook the nation yesterday with a truly revolutionary proposal. The veteran Fianna Fail politician, who lost his Dáil seat in last year's general election and received his current position as a consolation price from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, obviously decided that he wants to be an active Leader of the Senate instead of being just parked in the upper house until the next election.

Donie Cassidy announced - all by himself - that Ireland's motorists should give up driving on the left side of the road and join the vast majority of the world's countries whose cars drive on the right side. The main reason for the Senator's suggestion is "to reduce accidents by foreigners accustomed to right-side motoring". Never mind the many Irish drivers who never passed a test and make the island's roads a constant hazard course, and never mind also that a change to right-hand driving would reduce the costs of motor vehicles as well as their insurance. It is once again the foreigners who are to blame for a proposed change to one of our so cherished and equally ridiculous traditions left behind by the former colonial power.

But not enough with a fundamental change of driving habits in this rather conservative country. No, there is more, as the Fianna Fail Senator really has it in for the (bloody) foreigners - most of them from right-driving central and eastern Europe - who meanwhile make up about 15% of our population, due to Ireland's massive economic growth over the past decade.
To punish them for coming here and doing all the jobs the newly rich Irish people are no longer willing to take, Senator Cassidy proposes that people from countries driving on the right should observe a general 80 km per hour speed limit on all Irish roads, compared with speeds up to 120 kilometres permitted for Irish drivers.

This idea is truly xenophobic, discriminating, ridiculous, impractical and probably even illegal and unconstitutional. Even if passed into law, it would never work, as it is totally unenforcable. Most foreigners driving in Ireland have an Irish-registered car. So how shall a Garda patrol know who is driving and if the person behind the wheel learned his or her skills in a country with a right-sided traffic system? The only way would be the display of another symbol on the car: a bright red F (for foreigner) perhaps, or maybe even the letters RM (for right-side motoring). Such a compulsory display would be unique, as no other country has ever sunk to such a low level of culture and common sense. In history such a marking policy would stand right beside the yellow star which Jews in Nazi Germany were forced to wear on their clothes at all times.

Besides our newly acquired European workforce, Cassidy's Law would also hit foreign tourists. Surprisingly, despite our ridiculously high prices and notoriously sloppy service, Ireland is still a popular tourist destination for visitors from Europe and the United States. They, too, should be limited to 80 km per hour when driving on our roads, if Senator Cassidy gets away with his idea.

"We have all of these people coming in from Europe and from America and because of the roads that they are used to driving on in their own countries it is a huge difficulty when they start driving here," Cassidy told our national broadcaster RTE. "I know when I go to America it takes me five or six days to adjust."

Well, I should admit that I am a little bit allergic against individuals who refer to other human beings as "these people". And I could not possibly comment on Senator Donie Cassidy's personal driving skills.
But from my own experience there are no problems for a well-trained and able driver in switching from one system of traffic flow to another. Over the span of my life I have driven all sorts of cars in many different countries: right- driven cars in right-sided and left-sided systems, as well as left-driven cars in left-sided and right-sided systems.
I have crossed deserts and mountain ranges, drove through jungles and across plains, and negotiated successfully the traffic on hundreds of motorways and in many big cities, without a single accident ever.

It is not foreigners who cause Ireland's traffic problems. It is actually a combination of too few roads in often bad conditions, too many untrained drivers and a still unsolved attitude problem with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Another factor is the high proportion of goods transport on our roads, due to a severe lack of railway lines in most parts of the island. No speed limit for non-nationals will ever solve that!

Most traffic accidents are caused by our own people, and it would only be fair if the Leader of Seanad Éireann could acknowledge that. Most foreigners are better drivers than most of the Irish, as in almost all other countries they have much better roads, proper driving tests, and no one is allowed to drive until the test is passed. And regarding the tourists, well, only a small amount of them bring their own car to Ireland. They are mostly EU citizens from countries with vastly superior traffic conditions and have usually more experience. Otherwise it would not be the case that many Irish buses are now driven by Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and other continental Europeans! And 99% of the Americans on holiday in Ireland travel in organised groups, using tour buses. So none of the Senator's arguments wash and he should better forget very quickly his ridiculous proposal, else he might not only be the Leader of the Senate, but also the country's most prominent laughing stock.

However, as daft and impractical as his speed limit for foreigners is, the suggestion to change the driving system in Ireland from left to right makes a lot of sense. With the exception of the UK, several former British colonies, Japan and Thailand most of the world's countries have a right- sided traffic system. Thus cars and insurance are cheaper, and the flow of traffic across national borders is generally unproblematic. Sweden, the last continental European country to switch from left to right (in 1967) experienced no major problems with the change and has since greatly benefited from it.
So as much as I am shocked and appalled by Senator Cassidy's speed limit idea, I wholeheartedly salute him for the suggestion to change the traffic system. If he sticks to that one, and presents it to the country in an unbiased and non-political way, it could (and should) succeed eventually.

The Emerald Islander
(driving on all sides as a true independent)

The Advantage of the Long-Distance Traveler

This lunchtime I was at Dublin Airport and parted from a friend who was flying to Zürich (a distance of 750 miles), while I was traveling on land to Waterford (a distance of 100 miles). The weather was fine and dry, the temperature 11 degrees Celsius and there appeared to be no problems.

My friend's aeroplane left on time at 12.30 p.m., and shortly afterwards I left the airport and headed South on the Irish motorway system. But I did not get very far. Somewhere - far ahead of me and out of sight - there was apparently an accident, which blocked the flow of traffic and created a massive traffic jam around Dublin.

After about two hours and thirty minutes I received a text message from my friend, telling me of the save arrival in Zürich, while I was still very close to Dublin Airport. To make a long story short, there were two more accidents on the way South, and after a truly nightmarish journey I did eventually arrive in Waterford shortly before 8.30 p.m. this evening.

For the 100 miles across Ireland I needed eight hours, while my friend crossed a 7.5 times longer distance to Europe in little more than two hours(!), about a quarter of the time I spent on the road.
We are not a large island, and have a population of only 4.3 million by now. So one would think it should be possible to create an infrastructure that makes traveling in Ireland a normal and reasonably timed experience. Sadly that is much too often not the case, because there is widespread incompetence in our government and on all levels of administration. Everything seems to be more complicated, takes a lot longer, and costs a lot more money than similar things do elsewhere in Europe.

A long-distance traveler coming to or going from Ireland has therefore a clear advantage over the domestic traveler in Ireland, who is left helpless in the huge spider's web of incompetence, bad planning and slow reaction to events. It is really no fun to travel in Ireland, and least so when the journey begins or ends in Dublin.

The Emerald Islander

When God made Time . . .

The weather around Ireland and the British Isles is once again atrocious. Over the past 24 hours a new low front closed in on us, and as I write this, storms of force 10 are blowing in most sea areas. There are even some hurricanes (force 12) reported, but fortunately not in our areas. They are raging further up North, around the Shetland Islands, towards the Faeroes, and all the way to Norway. Tonight my special thoughts go out again to the skippers and sailors who have to master these conditions in order to keep us all supplied with the things we need.

Here on dry land the weather was actually surprisingly pleasant today. We still got some rain and wind, but not a lot. And for a few hours it felt quite mild. Now, that the wind has picked up speed again, it feels more colder and I have lit the fire to keep the house warm. This afternoon the farmer who sells us fire wood called again, so I am well stocked up.
It is never really certain if he comes on Thursdays or Fridays, and sometimes he even appears on a Saturday, after we have been already wondering if something has happened to him. But somehow he always comes, at his own time and pace, and this is so typical for the traditional way of life in Ireland.
When God made time, he made a lot of it - an old saying here - shows the generous attitude the average Irishman has to time in general and appointments in particular. Never expect people to be on time in Ireland, and if they are, they are most likely foreigners or were educated abroad.

It is not unusual that certain people forget appointments altogether, and sometimes a meeting that was set for a particular day and time is moved, postponed and moved again until a really suitable and agreeable time has been found. Or until the matter that was to be discussed is no longer of any relevance.

Subsequently the Irish have a reputation of being lazy, and - in all fairness - there is some real substance for seeing us that way. But the rather liberal attitude Irish people have towards time has several reasons. One is our Celtic heritage. Celts lived close to Nature, in small communities, connected with the traditional way of the seasons, of sowing and planting, growth and harvest, celebration and rest. In those days there were no clocks and watches, and the only "maker" of time was Nature, or God.

Another reason for the Irish reluctance to hurry is the time of occupation and colonialism forced upon the Celtic clans of Ireland. While the initially hostile encounters with the Vikings led soon to a fair co-existence between the two on the Emerald Isle, the Norman conquest in the late 12th century created a two-tier society which has been with us ever since.
Little is there in common between the haves and have-nots, the masters and their servants. So the only way of showing opposition - short of violence and rebellion - was to slow things down in all areas. In their arrogance the Normans and English thought not much about it, as they saw us as inferior beings anyway.

A third reason for the slow pace of life here was - and still is - the strong influence of the Church. Organised Christianity, and especially the Catholic variety of it, puts much emphasis on the "next world", the "life after death" when everything will be much better and we all will be rewarded for our suffering and shortfalls in this life. For the Church this is an easy promise, but it gives many people also the excuse to take this life not so serious.

In modern Ireland there is also an ever-present fourth reason for being late. The ever-growing number of cars on our roads - most of which were designed in the 19th century for a society of less mobile people who used horses, donkeys, carts and coaches - causes massive traffic jams in Ireland every day. It is bad enough on normal days, but let there be foul weather, heavy rain or storm, and things get much worse. This morning thousands of commuters around Dublin spent hours in their cars, waiting for the participant vehicles of a traffic accident to be removed from the M 50 motorway. One of the reasons for taking so long was that the tow-trucks, on their way to the accident, were themselves caught in another traffic jam (until they got a motorcycle escort form the Garda Siochana, our national police).

In all fairness, there are improvements on the way, and especially around Dublin a massive and futuristic looking network of roads and highways is constructed. But some of this construction work leads - inevitably - to more congestion and traffic jams. That Dublin's workers arrived in the city at all this morning is due to the wit and quick reaction of a Superintendent in the Garda Traffic Corps. When he heard of the problems, he literally got on his (motor)bike, went to the scene of the accident and personally organised the removal of the damaged cars from the lanes of the motorway. A couple of patrol cars came to his assistance, and eventually all was well again: the sheer endless motorised columns rolled into the city. However, such unbureaucratic personal initiative by an individual civil servant is rare. So rare in fact, that it landed the Superintendent on "Today with Pat Kenny", the nation's favourite late-morning radio programme.

From the safety of my little house, warmed by the crackling fire in the hearth, I salute the Superintendent for his spirit and initiative, and Pat Kenny for letting us know about it. More of the same is needed, and every good example inspires others. And to those still on the roads and highways of Ireland now I say a gentle Slan abhaile (Safe way home).

The Emerald Islander