Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Giuseppe Milo/Flickr

'There's a problem with Dublin. There's a danger it could self-destruct'

The head of Mayo County Council says investment needs to be better spread across Ireland.

THERE IS LITTLE doubt that Dublin is the engine that drives Ireland’s economy – with the region accounting for nearly half the nation’s output.

That leaves the country more skewed towards the capital than, say, the UK is to London, leading to inevitable calls for a more even spread of investment to smaller cities and major towns that don’t suffer Dublin’s affordability and congestion woes.

But some say that growth for Dublin is inevitably growth for Ireland, and that the improving fortunes of the capital will lift other regions.

Over the years, the debate has led to a slew of proposals to develop the cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford as counterbalances the country’s biggest city.

Meanwhile, the government has set a target of an extra 200,000 jobs being added in the country by 2019 – more than two-thirds of which would be outside Dublin.

However, Henk van der Kamp, the head of DIT’s school of spatial planning, says developing other cities may not be needed as long as Dublin continues to grow strongly.

“I don’t understand, or see the evidence, for suggesting that to have Dublin big, and the rest small, is a problem,” he told the recent annual Environment Ireland conference, speaking after a presentation by the head of Mayo County Council.

“I see no problem with having American factories in Mayo, and more of them would be good, but if they don’t want to go to Mayo that’s not a problem either. Mayo doesn’t rely on those kinds of companies to be successful.”

He added: “I agree that a counterweight to Dublin would not be bad, but if it doesn’t materialise, where is the problem? The risk is we shoot ourselves in the foot if we keep suggesting Dublin is a problem for us.

“My suggestion is that Dublin isn’t a problem, it’s a success. Yes, there’s a sustainability problem, but good planning can solve that. If we keep saying Dublin is a problem, we create a problem for ourselves.”

Beyond the M50

Peter Hynes, the chief executive of Mayo County Council, said he “disagreed completely” with van der Kamp’s views.

“There is a problem with Dublin. There’s a problem with commuting times. There’s a problem with sprawl, with sustainability. It’s not going to get better if that growth continues as it has been,” he said.

“There’s a requirement for Dublin’s growth and transport infrastructure (but) equally, there is a requirement for equitable investment to allow parts of the country that haven’t yet benefited from infrastructure investment to have a chance.”

He added: “Mayo isn’t dependant on American investment, but it certainly helps. It is almost an acceptable, God-given truth that no one wants to move a significant investment outside the M50.”

Self-destruct

Van der Kamp said that “everything that’s done outside Dublin is good”, adding that he didn’t want his views to be misinterpreted.

“I used to work in Cork; Cork has fantastic opportunities. What I’m saying is that if it doesn’t happen, if the market doesn’t want to go there, to say that Dublin is bad is (a problem).

“It’s good if it elsewhere, but it’s not a necessity and the risk is that if we say that Dublin has a problem then we forget that we have plenty of space to densify. Dublin can be a fantastic city.

“Ireland remains a small country. I don’t want to say anything shouldn’t be done elsewhere, but Dublin is not a problem.”

Responding later on, Hynes said that it was not a case of “Dublin versus the rest”, but added that there is a danger that Dublin “will self-destruct”.

He said that it’s “in no-one’s interest that happens” and added that “part of the solution” is to allow the rest of the island to grow.

Sign up to our newsletter to receive a regular digest of Fora’s top articles delivered to your inbox.

Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie

View 25 comments
Close
25 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DN
    Favourite DN
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:27 PM

    I lived in Rotterdam for 11 months abd the Baja beach club used RFID chips for patrons and members. Keeps the trouble makers away. Only a matter of time before we’re implanted with these for everyday use like banking, social welfare etc.. George Orwell saw it coming a mile off :)

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:35 PM

    George Orwell saw no such thing. He saw a mass surveillance state, not RFID chips.

    Do you really think people will agree to having stuff plugged into their body when they can get the same thing with a plastic card in their wallet? come off the f__g stage with that tin foil hat bulls!t

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DN
    Favourite DN
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 8:02 PM

    B–lshit? Well people did and still do have these chip planted into their wrists. You ignorant fool! Look it up! My Orwell comment was aimed at the orwellian state which will happen someday hopefully not my lifetime. Tin foil is good for wrapping my samdwhiches. Not so good for hat making. C U Next Tuesday.

    35
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joseph Siddall
    Favourite Joseph Siddall
    Report
    Jul 31st 2014, 2:43 AM

    Thousands of pets are already microchipped to allow cross-border travel. Very simple procedure. Unlikely to get to the human population anytime soon, but it is surely a government’s wet dream to be able to track its citizens. The old “nothing to hide – nothing to fear” malarkey. Some day, perhaps.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Glen
    Favourite Glen
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:34 PM

    How long before humans are chipped ?

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute IrishGravyTrain
    Favourite IrishGravyTrain
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:46 PM

    Put tinfoil on your head and around your balls and you’ll be sorted.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Glen
    Favourite Glen
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:53 PM

    Oh stop with the tin foil BS
    It’s been extremely well documented that the powers that be want to use chips in people for ID, banking, buying and selling, medical history ect. Two company’s in California have been working on the technology for years they already use it in animals
    It’s only a matter of time before it’s used in humans.

    39
    See 10 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ablitive
    Favourite Ablitive
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:54 PM

    As soon as Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama gives the go ahead…

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:09 PM

    It being on the Alex Jones show is not the same as ”being documented”, it’s been discussed as a conceptual thing not a serious proposal, and it would never fly as a mandatory thing anyway.
    We have Micheal Myers loose in the house slashing at us with his knife, and you are worried about the boogey man in your dreams.

    The EU is not coming for you, the Bilderbergers are not coming for you, it was not a cruize missile that hit the pentagon…the only big brother threat that’s real is the NSA and the 5 eyes system.
    Calm down.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Glen
    Favourite Glen
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:17 PM

    There are dozens of ” Alex jones types” who have written and lectured about this …. Google is your friend check out the company’s that manufacture them before making an ill-informed comments.

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:33 PM

    Glen Google is not research, Generation Y seems to fatally confuse the two.

    Research is finding facts and evidence, google will get you anything but. A google search can find you ‘evidence’ to confirm any crack pot theory you like. There are 1000s of internet pages explaining in painstaking deatail what explosives were put into the towers and how, why a cruize missile hit the pentagon, that JFK was killed because he signed an executive order about gold.

    You’re getting worried about a phantom threat that does not exist.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall H
    Favourite Niall H
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:35 PM

    It was not a airplane that hit the pentagon either

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:39 PM

    Oh dear…..

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 8:05 PM

    The plane was seen by 100s of people with the naked eye as it clipped lights on it’s way across to hit the building.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall H
    Favourite Niall H
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 8:32 PM

    I agree with most things you say on this site Ryan as you speak a lot of sense but I honestly think you need to open your eyes on this one.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 8:39 PM

    Niall…people…saw…the plane…crashing …into …the building….I have a relative who personally saw the damn thing heading towards the building from their office.

    Just because it did not punch a cartoonish airplane shape into a reenforced concrete building resistant to attack (the physics of it folds the wings back into the fuselage and the fuselage is more liquid than solid when it’s crashing.

    It’s not about opening my eyes, I’m quite open, go on the appliances story, where the very same people up-ticking your conspiracy theory are down-ticking something that is factually indisputable, and you will see how open minded I am. But I’m a scientist, I believe in evidence forming a hypothesis and then further evidence leading to a logical conclusion.
    There is not a shred of evidence that anything other than a plane hit the Pentagon.
    All the red thumbs in the universe won’t change that.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall H
    Favourite Niall H
    Report
    Jul 31st 2014, 12:18 AM

    Well….then….maybe……I’ll……use….all….the…..full….stops….in….the….universe…

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mark Oman
    Favourite Mark Oman
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 7:19 PM

    I like chips

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Roche
    Favourite Paul Roche
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 10:33 PM

    It would appear that those who comment using “tinfoil hat” as a derogatory term for those who despair of the Big Brother effect on privacy really have no clue about how technology has made it easier for government to track citizens.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Carey
    Favourite Paul Carey
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:29 PM

    Nice to know they’re ‘ensureing’.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall Ó Cionnaith
    Favourite Niall Ó Cionnaith
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:25 PM

    Very snazzy.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerald Santucci
    Favourite Gerald Santucci
    Report
    Jul 30th 2014, 6:55 PM

    These 2 EN will inform and protect the European citizens while at the same time building trust in the technology, hence supporting market take-off (which is less significant in Europe compared to other world regions). A process of 8 years that involved ALL stakehoders.

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel