The madness of MetroLink

 The madness of MetroLink

I have been convinced for some time that the timing of the MetroLink is wrong. About twenty years late. Now it's too expensive and we can't afford it.

I have written to the Irish Times on various occasions on the subject but have not yet been published. This letter I sent them today will suffer the same fate, no doubt. 

Dear friends,

I will make no apologies for writing again to plead that we immediately discontinue spending money on the planned MetroLink. 

We are reminded once again of our growing national debt which is masked by the output of US multinationals which will shrivel over time. Do subscribers to the Irish Times actually read it?!

We have shown in the building of the Children's National Hospital (not to mention bicycle sheds and security huts) proof of our inability to build anything big or small within budget. The MetroLink will end up costing €20 billion plus change. The ‘change’ of course will run to billions. With inflation possibly hitting 7% this year it is no time to be spending money we don’t have but must borrow.  The Department of Health is signaling it is already exceeding its budget this year. 

Is anyone in Government  capable of adding up? Or subtracting?  The Opposition are no help - they want to spend even more money. 

When we get into trouble the next time as we most certainly will on our present compass there will be no European Bank to bail us out or any US investment to save us. 

What would Pádraic Pearse have made of this implied threat to our sovereignty?? What indeed?

Sincerely yours

Padraic Murray.

Letters of any sort are better short. All the more so when directed to the Irish Times. But I could have added other gems of wisdom.

Why should we promote aviation when it is a threat to the environment? The usual defence of aviation is to offer that it has a smaller carbon footprint than other means of transport. It is like arguing that a serial killer is not that bad because he will kill less than non serial killers in aggregate. No one in business or broadcasting seems to have studied philosophy in the last hundred years. And it tells.

If my pessimistic view of the future proves correct, aviation will contract significantly over the next half century. Jet fuel will get taxed at an appropriate rate and affordability will punish careless travel. As a child of the sixties I think air travel should be used sparingly. The whole idea of a weekend break to a European City seems insane and so it will be viewed in retrospect. It is possible that air travel will be rationed as food was rationed in wartime. We are currently in a war with nature. Nature is painfully aware of it. But we are not.


Not yet. Because nature is only beginning to bear her teeth as climate patterns will change and our life styles will change. The 'necessity' to have a direct line to an underused airport will appear facetious. In time. 

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