There's a lot I agree in there, particularly about outsourcing of basic state services.
But some stuff is incorrect, pushing an idea that Ireland is somehow uniquely awful at this stuff across the board. You see similar things being written in other countries about themselves (Germany's national conversation about the failures of new road building or the Berlin airport, for example).
I think that overall approach lends itself to fatalism ("this country is a kip" thinking) instead of focused drive for reform.
A few examples:
1. "How is it possible to build the most expensive hospital on the face of the earth..." The NCH is not the most expensive hospital in the world. The PBO's report on comparative hospital construction costs is a good place to look at this. It is definitely too expensive and costs have ballooned, but claiming that it's the most expensive is wrong, and lends itself to a view that these problems are somehow exclusively and uniquely Irish.
2. "Ireland has no state construction company." Which other European countries do? France has greater state involvement in some infrastructual areas through semi-states, but which countries built housing directly via a state company? Even Singapore, which overwhelmingly has public housing, uses a kind of LDA model where the state commissions construction firms.
3. "Even now its own postal service cannot use the postcode to sort our mail": this isn't true. An Post do use Eircodes to sort and process mail and encourage their use. What they've said (but is rarely captured in the headline) is that after sorting, their delivery people use the full address primarily instead of the Eircode, as it wouldn't be practical to lookup or recall the Eircode for each individual property. This is obvious common sense and in line with other countries too, whose codes often don't even refer to one address, but instead a clump of them. Everyone around the world uses full addresses for mail delivery. Imagine being a postman and getting a bundle of 200 letters and they all just had a code you had to look up each time, rather than a full address. This is a decade-long misunderstanding held up as a failure.
Again, there's a lot I agree with, but we should be analytical and careful about what are actual examples of incompentence and what are just stuff that has been claimed. Ireland is terrible at many things, but often not uniquely so. That's heartening, because it means it can be fixed!
I read it slightly differently (and not disagreeing that other countries have their own horror stories about delivery failure): it’s not that everything is hopeless, but rather that the scale of effort required to change things is beyond the ambition or even the imagination of the political establishment in Ireland. The smaller centre-left parties (including the Greens) are honourable exceptions but even here I would like to see a lot more boldness of vision not just about the what but also the how—how would these parties, given the chance, get universal healthcare, childcare, housing, proper public transport and nature restoration at scale through our sclerotic system? A big, ambitious and executable vision for this would be a compelling pitch to the public.
re. Eircode. As I recall, A Post was not all that pushed about this project, as the company already used automated sorting machines which met the requirements of traditional postal services. As we now know, each individual property is now assigned a unique Eircode. Those who gained from the Eircode project were the private delivery companies, taxi services, IT based maps, emergency services etc. Among other outcomes was getting a better grasp on house building statistics. Those compiling such numbers often relied on ESB meter connections until it emerged that this was not a reliable indicator of new dwelling completions. Eircodes could also be used - along with other data sources - for property tax purposes.
Cynical me believed that An Post wasn't interested in Eircodes because their delivery team had (then) the unique ability to decode Irish addresses and know which house was where - Eircodes removed that advantage. I guess we'll never know.
I know it’s only a small part of the obscene picture you paint, but in the matter of the electric buses I always ask the question; how is it possible to sell a large fleet of electric buses to a public body without having the charging conversation? It absolutely must have arisen in the course of the transaction - and still the deal was done!
Hi Jim, I suspect the issue lies with ESB Networks. The transition we are discussing requires massive investment in new networks. This hasn't been happening. We have cases of completed housing estates remaining unoccupied for a year for want of a power supply. Did the bus owners discuss this with ESB networks? I don't know. But the minister git his photo op. That was the real target…
The mess created by the Irish State arises from its decision to get rid of its fully qualified and experienced technical professionals ie physicians, medical surgeons and other specialists, engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, accountants and lawyers as state employees aka civil servants.
The senior civil servants figured that they could hire professionals as consultants or procure their services indirectly by commissioning private businesses who hired professionals.
The senior civil servants thereby became a higher ‘managerial class’ with no direct responsibility for delivery.
The reason is ultimately very simple. It’s because of their fear of the consequences of professionalism. To know what that is you must know the proper definition of a professional’. It’s not demonstrable skill or competence oddly enough. It’s more important than that. The answer is that a professional takes full responsibility for the service they provide, especially for their advice.
That’s why they carry professional indemnity insurance. It’s a heavy burden and a mark of their willingness to take responsibility.
Excellent point. This deserves more data and discussion. As an example, local authorities have replaced professionals (eg. County Engineers, Chief Planning Officers) with Directors of Services. I suspect that many of these positions are held by people with no specialist knowledge. Whatever about the personalities involved, it was very revealing to see senior civil servants complain about the knowledge-based authority that NPHET claimed during COVID. At one stage, a report was commissioned from some outside consultants. As I recall, the report did not differ significantly from NPHET recommendations/advice. But the result was a “meaningful Christmas” with a spike in COVID cases and deaths. Note that there were other medical professionals here who challenged NPHET recommendations publicly. We the general public were aware that some thought that other options could be followed, as the mainstream media often featured the opinions of these experienced medical professionals. From such clashes of ideas and opinions, we can get greater understanding of and insight into options on how we can manage complex issues for our common good.
Sinéad, I’m depressed after reading your brilliant article above. I worry for my children’s futures. How can we the people get you and your expert colleagues front and centre for reform of Ireland? After reading your previous article I listened carefully to Mícheal Martin expertly not answer Holly Cairns questions in the Dáil. Martin is a nice person whose heart is in the right place, like many of his colleagues. But they are not doing their fucking jobs! Which is to make decisions and implement policies that are in the best interests of all the people of Ireland. The saddest for me is there is no person with real leadership and a vision for a great Ireland in the entire political landscape. They rather jump on the concerns of some Irish people regarding international conflicts and issues instead of the domestic war they should be waging on the Irish systems and infrastructure we desperately need. Continue to speak up and point out Sinéad; perseverance will hopefully win out!
Sharp as a tack as always Sinead. To say you've articulated the failings of Ireland is so understated. That feeling of it never really changes and never being able to fully understand what is happening. But here is the explanation in its fullest. It's dystopian and brutally honest. The republic never grew up now it's become obese on its addiction to money it can barely manage. It's all child's play and we the diaspora look on in shock.. Those who made the voyage to try something else see how grossly out of step we are with our contemporaries in the western world. I personally feel the only thing that will shake Ireland from its lack of vision and self care is an external event. I feel it's coming. Ireland is asleep at the wheel and Sinead is the guiding light. Thank you again for such phenomenal work.
This is a brilliant piece of research. The article connects many individual failures and shows how they form part of a much larger issue. It challenged me to look beyond government funding and capability
"nobody can be held to account for outcomes because the dispersion of accountability makes outcomes unattributable"
In the last General Election, the Minister for Finance, who was a candidate, circulated a leaflet asking 'Do you want this area's voice heard?' (if so, vote for that Minister).
It seems to me we cannot mitigate our chronic failure as a state, as anslysed here, without considering the parliamentary electoral system, with its super-low Effective Threshold and reliance exclusively on territorially-defined, multi-member parliamentary constituencies.
Then at a more profound level, there's the understanding, based on a reading of the Preamble to the Constitution,and on Article 6, that this Irish state exists to give glory to God. Anything beyond that is extra effort: the state fulfilled its raison d'etre to day Bunreacht ma hÉireann became operative.
Thank you Sinead for once again capturing the things that make me grit my teeth when I think about what this country could look like, be like, and feel like if only it had some bit of order. So many of my peers are moving abroad because they too can’t look at it. The fabulously educated (thanks to the State in fairness) and fabulously informed generation that we are love this country and want the best for it, but can’t watch it being driven into the ground for personal and private gain any more, with once in a generation money being thrown into the fire. The few years respite in America, Australia and Canada does little to remedy the in-built systemic illness, and it might feel like a betrayal, however as you so eloquently and creatively put it Sinead, the problem is so horrifically insurmountable, it would take a national Red Table for everyone to BFFR about what’s going on. I hope and pray for the day, but in the meantime will continue to read your excellent work and watch my near-exact thoughts and feelings organised and explained so kindly for me. Míle maith agat ⭐️
Janey Mac… now I can more fully understand why there are no sports pitches in Dublin 8, that every school child here plays on concrete and tarmac at break time, and that a local community centre burnt down almost 5 years ago, remains empty - it’s just Dublin City Council as a local expression of a national incompetence
Brilliant, if depressing analysis of our government’s repeated, hugely, costly failures to deliver the most basic of services.
Interesting that the criticism that stings poor Leo Varadkar the most is ‘the questioning of his motivation for entering politics’ and as you say, not on his multiple failures to deliver. As Leo would say, aka Oliver Callan ‘It was like that when I got here’.
Another thing we are brilliant at doing is turning our Government’s failures into comedy. The comedy of our jesters in power is wearing very thin.
Depressingly accurate. Having come from private industry, multi national background into the public service I can attested to the issue that wheather a project is delivered or not is almost irrelevant. The people "responsible" will get paid no matter what. They will sail off into the sunset after years of non delivery with guaranteed pension intact. It leads to a culture of a shrug of the shoulders when issues occur and only when the noise level reaches a newspaper or media outlet is there anything grudgingly done. Head wrecking stuff, most wouldn't last a week in the private sector where delivery and personal responsibility are rewarded and consistent non delivery policed by reduction in company bonus,share options allocation etc.
Also : regarding the busses, the battery chargers are there, the electric power capacity is not !
The step up to purchase 250 kW of industrial power nodes is €2-400 k per unit, this can cater for 10 busses over night / one bus every two hours during day.
What is this step up exactly ?
The step up is : An industrial unit of which many are available, easily refurbished, accessible to large vehicles, secure & do have big industrial power connections.
Sinead, you are the Xena, Warrior Princess of Irish public administration. You keep wading into areas most people would give up trying to understand, and this is another strong example. What I found most useful here is the attempt to explain the failure as structural rather than simply blaming incompetence, waste or the usual political villains. The “Four Locks” framework gives a convincing explanation for how a State can have plenty of money, plenty of people and plenty of plans, yet still struggle so badly to deliver. Whether people agree with every conclusion or not, this is exactly the kind of analysis Ireland needs more of.
Loads of interest and that seems to hit the target very squarely. This sentence particularly struck me.
"Bravery was never the missing ingredient, leverage was."
I've been thinking about the apparent ability of Ireland to get things done when those things were paid for by the EU - a lot of motorways and other roads in particular, but I still see the odd sign about water projects that were funded by the EU around the place. Perhaps that was because the EU had leverage over Ireland to ensure that these projects would happen, or else the money wouldn't be forthcoming?
So I wonder whether the huge Corporation Tax receipts are in some way part of the problem. They make the Irish State less reliant on its citizens and voters to also act as taxpayers, and so the voters lose the leverage that paying the bills might otherwise give them.
It's interesting that the impetus for Sláintecare came in the interregnum between the state being awash with money from the Celtic Tiger property boom, and the state being awash with money from Corporation Tax receipts.
Not wishing for Ireland to have to become bankrupt again before its people gain some leverage over their state, but how else might the people bring some leverage to bear to create some change in the system?
Interesting that you refer to the EU funding of motorways. As I recall, one outcome the Dec 1992 EU Council meeting in Edinburgh was that Ireland got about IR£8bn in structural and other funds. Over the following decade, this prompted building part of a motorway network, mainly focused on radial roads from Dublin. However, the scope for creating a countervailing axis to Dublin was not taken up ie. Cork to Galway via Limerick. The Limerick -Cork motorway is still not built. Instead a motorway was built to link Waterford to Dublin, despite it being publicly known that the traffic did not then justify such a project. The motorway was not tolled, as the estimated revenue was not sufficient to justify the then favoured PPP to build motorways. Then, as now, Cork and Limerick had larger populations than Waterford. Similarly in 1998, the Government decided to build a mainly-on street light rail network in Dublin. This included a short tunnel under the City Centre linking the Green line to Broadstone (where there was an unused railway alignment) and onto Dublin Airport. Objections from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, CIE and Dublin Corporation’s then Director of Traffic resulted in two non- interconnected LUAS being built. Despite further investment, they are still not networked for passenger services. Nor are there any plans to do so. The short tunnel link was not built. Now the public authorities are committed to adding yet another railway system to the Dublin area. The proposed ~€20bn MetroLink boondoggle will not be interoperable with either of the other two existing rail-based transport systems in Dublin. It is a single tunnelled project which, if built, will not be networked with heavy rail DART commuter or light rail DART services. See my April 2025 article on this “development” https://cassandravoices.com/science-environment/does-dublin-require-3-railway-systems/
There's a lot I agree in there, particularly about outsourcing of basic state services.
But some stuff is incorrect, pushing an idea that Ireland is somehow uniquely awful at this stuff across the board. You see similar things being written in other countries about themselves (Germany's national conversation about the failures of new road building or the Berlin airport, for example).
I think that overall approach lends itself to fatalism ("this country is a kip" thinking) instead of focused drive for reform.
A few examples:
1. "How is it possible to build the most expensive hospital on the face of the earth..." The NCH is not the most expensive hospital in the world. The PBO's report on comparative hospital construction costs is a good place to look at this. It is definitely too expensive and costs have ballooned, but claiming that it's the most expensive is wrong, and lends itself to a view that these problems are somehow exclusively and uniquely Irish.
2. "Ireland has no state construction company." Which other European countries do? France has greater state involvement in some infrastructual areas through semi-states, but which countries built housing directly via a state company? Even Singapore, which overwhelmingly has public housing, uses a kind of LDA model where the state commissions construction firms.
3. "Even now its own postal service cannot use the postcode to sort our mail": this isn't true. An Post do use Eircodes to sort and process mail and encourage their use. What they've said (but is rarely captured in the headline) is that after sorting, their delivery people use the full address primarily instead of the Eircode, as it wouldn't be practical to lookup or recall the Eircode for each individual property. This is obvious common sense and in line with other countries too, whose codes often don't even refer to one address, but instead a clump of them. Everyone around the world uses full addresses for mail delivery. Imagine being a postman and getting a bundle of 200 letters and they all just had a code you had to look up each time, rather than a full address. This is a decade-long misunderstanding held up as a failure.
Again, there's a lot I agree with, but we should be analytical and careful about what are actual examples of incompentence and what are just stuff that has been claimed. Ireland is terrible at many things, but often not uniquely so. That's heartening, because it means it can be fixed!
I read it slightly differently (and not disagreeing that other countries have their own horror stories about delivery failure): it’s not that everything is hopeless, but rather that the scale of effort required to change things is beyond the ambition or even the imagination of the political establishment in Ireland. The smaller centre-left parties (including the Greens) are honourable exceptions but even here I would like to see a lot more boldness of vision not just about the what but also the how—how would these parties, given the chance, get universal healthcare, childcare, housing, proper public transport and nature restoration at scale through our sclerotic system? A big, ambitious and executable vision for this would be a compelling pitch to the public.
Sinead, what and how can things be changed? There is a growing cohort that do indeed recognise things are broken and we need change but how ?
re. Eircode. As I recall, A Post was not all that pushed about this project, as the company already used automated sorting machines which met the requirements of traditional postal services. As we now know, each individual property is now assigned a unique Eircode. Those who gained from the Eircode project were the private delivery companies, taxi services, IT based maps, emergency services etc. Among other outcomes was getting a better grasp on house building statistics. Those compiling such numbers often relied on ESB meter connections until it emerged that this was not a reliable indicator of new dwelling completions. Eircodes could also be used - along with other data sources - for property tax purposes.
Cynical me believed that An Post wasn't interested in Eircodes because their delivery team had (then) the unique ability to decode Irish addresses and know which house was where - Eircodes removed that advantage. I guess we'll never know.
I know it’s only a small part of the obscene picture you paint, but in the matter of the electric buses I always ask the question; how is it possible to sell a large fleet of electric buses to a public body without having the charging conversation? It absolutely must have arisen in the course of the transaction - and still the deal was done!
Hi Jim, I suspect the issue lies with ESB Networks. The transition we are discussing requires massive investment in new networks. This hasn't been happening. We have cases of completed housing estates remaining unoccupied for a year for want of a power supply. Did the bus owners discuss this with ESB networks? I don't know. But the minister git his photo op. That was the real target…
The mess created by the Irish State arises from its decision to get rid of its fully qualified and experienced technical professionals ie physicians, medical surgeons and other specialists, engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, accountants and lawyers as state employees aka civil servants.
The senior civil servants figured that they could hire professionals as consultants or procure their services indirectly by commissioning private businesses who hired professionals.
The senior civil servants thereby became a higher ‘managerial class’ with no direct responsibility for delivery.
The reason is ultimately very simple. It’s because of their fear of the consequences of professionalism. To know what that is you must know the proper definition of a professional’. It’s not demonstrable skill or competence oddly enough. It’s more important than that. The answer is that a professional takes full responsibility for the service they provide, especially for their advice.
That’s why they carry professional indemnity insurance. It’s a heavy burden and a mark of their willingness to take responsibility.
Excellent point. This deserves more data and discussion. As an example, local authorities have replaced professionals (eg. County Engineers, Chief Planning Officers) with Directors of Services. I suspect that many of these positions are held by people with no specialist knowledge. Whatever about the personalities involved, it was very revealing to see senior civil servants complain about the knowledge-based authority that NPHET claimed during COVID. At one stage, a report was commissioned from some outside consultants. As I recall, the report did not differ significantly from NPHET recommendations/advice. But the result was a “meaningful Christmas” with a spike in COVID cases and deaths. Note that there were other medical professionals here who challenged NPHET recommendations publicly. We the general public were aware that some thought that other options could be followed, as the mainstream media often featured the opinions of these experienced medical professionals. From such clashes of ideas and opinions, we can get greater understanding of and insight into options on how we can manage complex issues for our common good.
Sinéad, I’m depressed after reading your brilliant article above. I worry for my children’s futures. How can we the people get you and your expert colleagues front and centre for reform of Ireland? After reading your previous article I listened carefully to Mícheal Martin expertly not answer Holly Cairns questions in the Dáil. Martin is a nice person whose heart is in the right place, like many of his colleagues. But they are not doing their fucking jobs! Which is to make decisions and implement policies that are in the best interests of all the people of Ireland. The saddest for me is there is no person with real leadership and a vision for a great Ireland in the entire political landscape. They rather jump on the concerns of some Irish people regarding international conflicts and issues instead of the domestic war they should be waging on the Irish systems and infrastructure we desperately need. Continue to speak up and point out Sinéad; perseverance will hopefully win out!
Sharp as a tack as always Sinead. To say you've articulated the failings of Ireland is so understated. That feeling of it never really changes and never being able to fully understand what is happening. But here is the explanation in its fullest. It's dystopian and brutally honest. The republic never grew up now it's become obese on its addiction to money it can barely manage. It's all child's play and we the diaspora look on in shock.. Those who made the voyage to try something else see how grossly out of step we are with our contemporaries in the western world. I personally feel the only thing that will shake Ireland from its lack of vision and self care is an external event. I feel it's coming. Ireland is asleep at the wheel and Sinead is the guiding light. Thank you again for such phenomenal work.
This is a brilliant piece of research. The article connects many individual failures and shows how they form part of a much larger issue. It challenged me to look beyond government funding and capability
"nobody can be held to account for outcomes because the dispersion of accountability makes outcomes unattributable"
In the last General Election, the Minister for Finance, who was a candidate, circulated a leaflet asking 'Do you want this area's voice heard?' (if so, vote for that Minister).
It seems to me we cannot mitigate our chronic failure as a state, as anslysed here, without considering the parliamentary electoral system, with its super-low Effective Threshold and reliance exclusively on territorially-defined, multi-member parliamentary constituencies.
Then at a more profound level, there's the understanding, based on a reading of the Preamble to the Constitution,and on Article 6, that this Irish state exists to give glory to God. Anything beyond that is extra effort: the state fulfilled its raison d'etre to day Bunreacht ma hÉireann became operative.
The purpose of a system is what it does.
Thank you Sinead for once again capturing the things that make me grit my teeth when I think about what this country could look like, be like, and feel like if only it had some bit of order. So many of my peers are moving abroad because they too can’t look at it. The fabulously educated (thanks to the State in fairness) and fabulously informed generation that we are love this country and want the best for it, but can’t watch it being driven into the ground for personal and private gain any more, with once in a generation money being thrown into the fire. The few years respite in America, Australia and Canada does little to remedy the in-built systemic illness, and it might feel like a betrayal, however as you so eloquently and creatively put it Sinead, the problem is so horrifically insurmountable, it would take a national Red Table for everyone to BFFR about what’s going on. I hope and pray for the day, but in the meantime will continue to read your excellent work and watch my near-exact thoughts and feelings organised and explained so kindly for me. Míle maith agat ⭐️
Please - anyone: Is there anything us plebs can do to help? There doesn't even seem to be anyone worth voting for these days.
Janey Mac… now I can more fully understand why there are no sports pitches in Dublin 8, that every school child here plays on concrete and tarmac at break time, and that a local community centre burnt down almost 5 years ago, remains empty - it’s just Dublin City Council as a local expression of a national incompetence
Not just in Dublin 8. Same is true in Dublin 1. Our governing networks (locally, regionally, nationally) have no concept of place-making.
Brilliant, if depressing analysis of our government’s repeated, hugely, costly failures to deliver the most basic of services.
Interesting that the criticism that stings poor Leo Varadkar the most is ‘the questioning of his motivation for entering politics’ and as you say, not on his multiple failures to deliver. As Leo would say, aka Oliver Callan ‘It was like that when I got here’.
Another thing we are brilliant at doing is turning our Government’s failures into comedy. The comedy of our jesters in power is wearing very thin.
Keep writing Sinead.
Depressingly accurate. Having come from private industry, multi national background into the public service I can attested to the issue that wheather a project is delivered or not is almost irrelevant. The people "responsible" will get paid no matter what. They will sail off into the sunset after years of non delivery with guaranteed pension intact. It leads to a culture of a shrug of the shoulders when issues occur and only when the noise level reaches a newspaper or media outlet is there anything grudgingly done. Head wrecking stuff, most wouldn't last a week in the private sector where delivery and personal responsibility are rewarded and consistent non delivery policed by reduction in company bonus,share options allocation etc.
Also : regarding the busses, the battery chargers are there, the electric power capacity is not !
The step up to purchase 250 kW of industrial power nodes is €2-400 k per unit, this can cater for 10 busses over night / one bus every two hours during day.
What is this step up exactly ?
The step up is : An industrial unit of which many are available, easily refurbished, accessible to large vehicles, secure & do have big industrial power connections.
Here is an AI assisted sketch
an AI version: https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgrok.com%2Fshare%2Fc2hhcmQtMi1jb3B5_3f68b67f-f323-4cd1-a7d5-add11ceb05f1%3Ftrk%3Dfeed_main-feed-card_comment-text
Sinead, you are the Xena, Warrior Princess of Irish public administration. You keep wading into areas most people would give up trying to understand, and this is another strong example. What I found most useful here is the attempt to explain the failure as structural rather than simply blaming incompetence, waste or the usual political villains. The “Four Locks” framework gives a convincing explanation for how a State can have plenty of money, plenty of people and plenty of plans, yet still struggle so badly to deliver. Whether people agree with every conclusion or not, this is exactly the kind of analysis Ireland needs more of.
Loads of interest and that seems to hit the target very squarely. This sentence particularly struck me.
"Bravery was never the missing ingredient, leverage was."
I've been thinking about the apparent ability of Ireland to get things done when those things were paid for by the EU - a lot of motorways and other roads in particular, but I still see the odd sign about water projects that were funded by the EU around the place. Perhaps that was because the EU had leverage over Ireland to ensure that these projects would happen, or else the money wouldn't be forthcoming?
So I wonder whether the huge Corporation Tax receipts are in some way part of the problem. They make the Irish State less reliant on its citizens and voters to also act as taxpayers, and so the voters lose the leverage that paying the bills might otherwise give them.
It's interesting that the impetus for Sláintecare came in the interregnum between the state being awash with money from the Celtic Tiger property boom, and the state being awash with money from Corporation Tax receipts.
Not wishing for Ireland to have to become bankrupt again before its people gain some leverage over their state, but how else might the people bring some leverage to bear to create some change in the system?
Interesting that you refer to the EU funding of motorways. As I recall, one outcome the Dec 1992 EU Council meeting in Edinburgh was that Ireland got about IR£8bn in structural and other funds. Over the following decade, this prompted building part of a motorway network, mainly focused on radial roads from Dublin. However, the scope for creating a countervailing axis to Dublin was not taken up ie. Cork to Galway via Limerick. The Limerick -Cork motorway is still not built. Instead a motorway was built to link Waterford to Dublin, despite it being publicly known that the traffic did not then justify such a project. The motorway was not tolled, as the estimated revenue was not sufficient to justify the then favoured PPP to build motorways. Then, as now, Cork and Limerick had larger populations than Waterford. Similarly in 1998, the Government decided to build a mainly-on street light rail network in Dublin. This included a short tunnel under the City Centre linking the Green line to Broadstone (where there was an unused railway alignment) and onto Dublin Airport. Objections from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, CIE and Dublin Corporation’s then Director of Traffic resulted in two non- interconnected LUAS being built. Despite further investment, they are still not networked for passenger services. Nor are there any plans to do so. The short tunnel link was not built. Now the public authorities are committed to adding yet another railway system to the Dublin area. The proposed ~€20bn MetroLink boondoggle will not be interoperable with either of the other two existing rail-based transport systems in Dublin. It is a single tunnelled project which, if built, will not be networked with heavy rail DART commuter or light rail DART services. See my April 2025 article on this “development” https://cassandravoices.com/science-environment/does-dublin-require-3-railway-systems/
Its actually so bad ....it could be fixed ....seriously ...