Ireland 2040 - My thoughts

So, on Friday, the Irish Government presented its grand investment strategy for the next 22 years. Ireland 2040, as this plan is called, is a massive infrastructure investment program that will finally bring Ireland up to speed, and make it ready for the coming challenges according to the government. Of course, the opposition wasted no time in calling foul, with Labour party calling it a failure only twenty minutes after the plan had been announced. Well, if anyone knows failure in Ireland, it's Labour, but back to the topic at hand. The plan will see a total of 116 billion Euros spent over the next twenty years, funding pretty much everything from a new runway at Dublin Airport, and a metro for the capital, to new and much needed motorways, hospitals, ports, the much delayed rural broadband rollout, housing, public transport improvements, and much, much more.

In fact, Ireland 2040 is split into two distinct documents. One is the National Planning Framework, which in fact goes all the way to 2040 and acts as a general master plan as to how the country should develop up until the middle of the 21st century. The second document is the National Development Plan 2018-2027, and is much more concrete. This outlines distinct projects that are to be undertaken over the next ten years, and outlines their costs and completion dates. It is very much a "to do" list for the government. I'll primarily concentrate on the National Development Plan, as the National Planning Framework smells a bit like vapour ware to me. 

Okay, ya, we get it. But what does all this hubbub mean for Cork? Well, quite a bit. There's a surprising number of big ticket projects in the pipeline for the rebel county, affecting roads, public transport, the port, healthcare, education and research. Here's a quick rundown of what I consider the major points:

• M20 Cork - Limerick: For decades, there have been calls to connect the cities of Cork and Limerick, Ireland's second and third largest cities, with a motorway. At the moment, the main road between these two cities is the N20 road, mostly two lanes, and cutting straight through regional towns like Mallow or Charleville. The road has been beyond capacity for quite some time, and is quite frankly a safety risk for road users and residents. The National Development Plan allocates a large amount of money to finally build a motorway to link the two cities. It is more than overdue, I mean can anyone imagine Berlin and Hamburg linked with basically country roads? Or Vienna and Graz? 

• M8/N25/N40 - Dunkettle Interchange: This is basically the single point of failure in the Cork city road network. The Dunkettle Interchange is the point where the M8 motorway from Dublin meets the N25, a four lane highway running from Cork city centre to Midleton and then on to Waterford, as well as the N40, Cork's Southern Ring Road, another four lane highway which, to make things even worse, dips straight into a tunnel under the River Lee. An accident here can, and has, shut down all the roads I mentioned above. At the moment, Dunkettle is basically a three lane roundabout with a motorway running on top of it. To top it off, it is regulated with traffic lights, so cars coming down the M8 from Dublin could very well find themselves facing a tailback from a red traffic light. The National Development plan will see the interchange transformed into an actual free flowing interchange. This project is actually already underway.

• N28 - Ringaskiddy/Port of Cork Access: Ringaskiddy is a crucial piece of infrastructure for Cork. It is here that the Port of Cork has it's deep water berths to handle large ships, as well as it's ferry terminal. Both have been steadily growing in importance as ships have gotten larger, and that development will only get worse. I'll get into more details about the port itself later, for the time I'll be concentrating on the road, and oh boy, there's quite a bit wrong with that. In its current state, the N28 is effectively a country road, with two lanes that are increasingly incapable of handling even current traffic volumes generated by both the port, the plethora of biotech and pharmaceutical plants in the area, and the rapidly growing commuter town of Carrigaline. It is also the major road access to the Naval Base on Haulbowline Island. Plans are already underway to upgrade the N28 to motorway standards all the way to Ringaskiddy, as well as realign it in some sections, and the National Development Plan allocates additional funds for this project. The biggest problem with this project is a loud and ruthless group of NIMBYs who are fighting tooth and nail to prevent this road from being built. I hope the NDP contains ample funding for legal actions against these knuckledraggers!

• BusConnects Cork: Oh boy! This is going to be good. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Minister for Transport Shane Ross has read my latest article on public transport here in Cork and taken it to heart. I've already outlined the current public transport situation in earlier articles on this blog, so I won't go into detail here. The National Development Plan sets aside 200 million Euros for massive improvements to the bus network in Cork. Details are sketchy pending the completion of a reassessed Cork Transport Strategy. However, BusConnects calls for the establishment of a revised bus network, dedicated bus corridors with segregated cycling facilities, cashless ticketing, new bus stops and shelters, and a dedicated branding. Seriously, this encompasses 90% of what I called for in my blog post on February 2nd! If the government sees this through, it would be a game changer for Cork.

Currently, this is the face of public transport in Cork. While those Citaro buses are nice, Bus Éireann isn't really known for its reliability.

One of the points of the National Development Plan is a "transition to low emission vehicles". As far as I'm concerned, that is nowhere near ambitious enough, and the infrastructure for electric buses like this Volvo 7900 Electric designed for Malmö in Sweden, should be put in as soon as possible.

• Port of Cork - Ringaskiddy Terminal: Back in 2015, the Port of Cork started one of the biggest investment projects in its history. At the moment, the only dedicated container terminal in the port is located in the suburb of Tivoli. While the location isn't really the worst for a terminal designed to handle feeder class vessels, the trend towards ever larger container ships has made it increasingly difficult for larger vessels to serve the Port of Cork, and berthing a vessel at the Tivoli terminal can easily shut down all traffic on the River Lee. Meanwhile, deepwater berths are available at the terminal in Ringaskiddy I mentioned earlier when discussing the N28 upgrade. However, Ringaskiddy in its current state is primarily a bulk terminal, and any container ships berthed there will have to be unloaded by conventional cranes, rather than the much quicker container gantries in Tivoli. The National Development Plan will see the Port of Cork complete the construction of a new, larger container terminal at Ringaskiddy, and the transfer of all container and indeed port operations from Tivoli to Ringaskiddy, and has allocated 90 million Euros for it. Not only will this make things much easier for the port from an operational point of view, it will open up Tivoli and the city docks for a much needed redevelopment and regeneration project. In fact, the move of the port downstream to Ringaskiddy is the lynchpin around which much of the future development of Cork revolves.

The current container terminal in Tivoli was designed with relatively small feeder vessels in mind.

Not only that, it is also clearly beginning to show its age.

• New Cork Hospital: On the face of it, Cork is quite well stocked with hospitals. However, once you look a bit deeper, problems begin to appear. With the exception of the Mercy Hospital, all hospitals are on the South Side, as well as in areas whose road infrastructure is subpar. In addition, Cork University Hospital, the city's premier medical facilities regularly tops the list of hospitals with the most number of patients waiting on trolleys because no beds, much less rooms are available. It is quite obvious that the status quo is unsustainable. The National Development Plan therefore has provisions for the construction of a new hospital in Cork by 2027, in addition to other improvements to the existing hospitals. Now, the plan does not specify the budget or the location of the new hospital, but at least it commits the government to see the construction through, something that had been lacking up until now.

• UCC - New facilities: University College Cork has been growing like mad over the last few years, with expansion in nearly every sector. The National Development Plan will see this growth continue. A new business school will be established, as will a dedicated dental hospital. Additional student accommodation blocks are planned as well, which should go some way towards freeing up regular houses and deflating the rental market, and an "Innovation Park" is planned as well, whatever that may be. On that note, the Tyndall Institute, Ireland's premier ICT R&D facility, will also see a major expansion of its facilities here in Cork.

From the 19th century and the age of George Boole...

...to the 21st century, University College Cork has been a major asset to Cork. Ireland 2040 will build on that success story.

Now, despite what Leesiders may think, Cork isn't all of Ireland. There's an entire country beyond the county borders, and a lot of investment is going into those areas as well. Dublin seems to be getting a lion's share of those investments, but looking at the projects that are getting financed, I have to say they make a lot of sense. Chief among these are Metro Link and a new runway and control tower at Dublin Airport. For both projects, I can only say "Hell, it's about time!". Let's start with the airport. Currently, Dublin is effectively a single-runway airport, with the overwhelming majority of traffic being handled by Runway 10/28, a 2800 meter runway at the southern edge of the airport. Traffic however has skyrocketed over the last few years, and Dublin now handles as many passengers as Zurich, Moscow Domodedovo, or Copenhagen, with only a fraction of their runway capacity. Preliminary work has already begun on the construction of a new Runway 10L/28R at the northern end of the airport, and the NDP allocates the necessary funds to see this construction through. At the same time, the new runway will require a new control tower to properly oversee aircraft movements, and the NDP has provisions for that as well. 

The new runway at Dublin Airport will be built at the far end of Runway 16/34, the runway visible in this photo. It will run parallel to the main runway, from which my flight was taking off when I took this picture.

Unfortunately, Ireland 2040 did not mention anything about a new terminal for Dublin Airport. Such a new facility is essential in my eyes, as the current terminal complex is a total cluster**k.

As for Metro Link, that's actually a bit of a case of the Emperor's New Clothes. The project was previously known as Metro North, and was supposed to be an underground connection from St. Stephen's Green up to Swords via Dublin Airport. Now, from my personal point of view, having an underground line simply end in the middle of Dublin made no sense whatsoever, and it appears the planners finally woke up and smelled the coffee themselves, as the NDP will see the underground line extended south of St. Stephen's Green, and make use of the existing Green Line Luas tracks all the way to Sandyford. In general, this is a good idea, and God knows that Dublin needs a better public transport system. However, I'm a bit at a loss as to how this will work from a technical point of view. Will Metro Link use LUAS style vehicles with low platform heights, or will they use more underground style trains which would require significant reconstruction of the existing LUAS line between Charlemont and Sandyford? Whatever the solution is, this line is more than needed, and far more than just a simple vanity project. 

There are also a few points that I don't quite like. First of all, Irish Rail barely gets a mention beyond the expansion of DART services. Granted, the National Planning Framework contains provisions for a feasibility study of high speed rail connections between Cork, Dublin and Belfast, but that is frankly pie in the sky stuff. I would have loved to see funding provided for the re-opening of the Limerick Junction-Waterford line, the Waterford to Rosslare line, and indeed, funds to ensure continued operation of the Rosslare to Dublin line. I would have also loved to see fund made available for the replacement of the current Irish Rail Commuter DMUs by more modern vehicles, but apparently, that's not a priority.

Irish Rail's InterCity trainsets, the 22000 class, are only a few years old, and are doing a pretty good job on routes into the wilderness, like Dublin-Sligo. I will leave it up to you as to whether Dublin or Sligo are in the wilderness.

However, the situation isn't as positive on the commuter side. "Modern" trains like the 29000 class are the exception.

Most commuter trains, like this DART train at Booterstown, are 1980s or 1990s vintage, and definitely not up to modern standards. Unfortunately, Ireland 2040 contains no concrete commitments to change this.

What is a priority however is the continued nonsensical support of one-off housing in the middle of nowhere, or "rural Ireland" as it is euphemistically called. Some may refer to that being part of the Irish character, but quite frankly, it is a logistical nightmare and a bottomless money drain. Too much effort is still being made to keep small hamlets with just a handful of people, a GAA pitch, an anemic church and school, and an equally anemic pub alive. Now don't get me wrong, if you want to live at the ass end of nowhere, that's your choice. However, I don't believe that the state should be forced to support you just because you won't leave your house in Ballyassbackwards. Instead, infrastructure investments should be concentrated in larger towns, say from 1000 inhabitants up, with people being encouraged to resettle there.

What I just said about those one-horse-hamlets between bogs and bugger-all can be said about the continuing support for the Gaeltacht and the futile attempts at keeping the Irish language alive. That language serves no constructive purpose for the state, has been used and weaponised by a small radical self declared elite, and is nothing more than a colossal drain on resources of the state. Let the language die a dignified death instead of keeping it on life support and tying up resources that could better be used elsewhere. 

The concept of eHubs, incubators for entrepeneurs, in every county is a much more positive component of the National Development plan. Newly founded companies need a lot of support, especially legal, logistical, and financial support, which is often hard to come by outside of the large urban areas. These eHubs can go a long way towards alleviating the situation and harnessing the potential that is out there. Projects like the Ludgate Hub in Skibereen are a good indicator of how much of an impact these projects can have.

So, what is the verdict? Well, the plan seems to be well sought out. There are no vanity projects in there, rather the focus seems to have been on providing a solid foundation for development. For Cork, that specifically means that there are NO immediate plans for a light rail system in the city, which would have been a colossal waste of resources. I do support the feasibility study, but BusConnects Cork should be the priority, as that will provide the necessary foundation that any future light rail network will need. I don't really have to say much about the M20, it is a sad indictment for Ireland that it took so long to get a proper link between the country's two major regional centers underway. I am puzzled however about how the M20 will connect to the existing network. Feeding traffic into the existing N20 connector to Blackpool would be suicidal, and further exacerbate traffic problems in that area of the city. The ideal solution would be the construction of a proper North Ring Road similar to the N40, however there's no word of that in the NDP. We'll just have to wait and see how that plays out. All in all, however, I'm quite happy with the plans that were announced. Now the priority must be to get as many of these projects underway ASAP, mainly the M20, N28, BusConnects, and Metro Link, while the economic conditions are still favourable.