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A chance was lost when the Dublin docklands were developed into a cluster of low rise boxes. It should have been much higher. Now there does seem to be much more high density housing being built recently out near the old glass bottle plant etc. High rise living works well in most of the major cities of the world but services, parks etc must be provided.
yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11762 - 03/09/2025 08:45:08 2634701 Link 1 |
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I understand and I take your point, to me the critical difference is, Belgium is not an Island, where as Ireland is and that makes a difference, we are also an agricultural country that is an important industry to Irelands economy with little room for interruptions to farming land of any sort. Tourism is another one of our industries of massive importance, your own beloved Galway for example plays a big part in that. I do not think for one moment that multiples of new builds of houses / appartements would improve or do justice to Galway in the overall interest of its people and / or tourism. We don't have as many building sites available as people think. supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3258 - 03/09/2025 09:29:40 2634705 Link 0 |
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Just on the housing thing. Would a two birds-one-stone scenario be feasible? Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9997 - 03/09/2025 10:32:37 2634715 Link 1 |
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TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8501 - 03/09/2025 11:17:32 2634720 Link 0 |
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To regenerate the rural west would not be straight forward, if you take Mayo, Galway and indeed your own county Donegal those are three major counties where the land scape and ruggedness of them is sacrosanct to our tourism industry, that leaves neglected towns and villages as you say where upgrades and retrofits would improve things both cosmetically and financially help the owners (if any) at the same time, include Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo in the same project also Knock Airport. I will go a step further and add, in the 1950's Bord Na Mona built a number of housing estates in the country for their workers, successfully may I add, they were literally built on surplus bog land they are still inhabited today all in perfect condition. A revisit to the Bord Na Mona builds is also an option. supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3258 - 03/09/2025 12:19:27 2634736 Link 0 |
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They'll never increase population of the west. And there's not much room for Knock airport to grow either. Always thought a midlands airport located between Mullingar and Athlone would boost more growth in that area.
alalalalalum (USA) - Posts: 13 - 03/09/2025 12:23:59 2634737 Link 0 |
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There was a government plan published 20+ years ago that had a lot of this in it, the objective was to have a counterweight to Dublin /east coast so that regional development would be more balanced. 5 industrial hubs were name (Galway and Sligo were 2 I think, Letterkenny might have been another). The idea was that these hubs would be prioritised for development and that they would be axials for other towns in their areas. It was a very good idea.....until the politicians got at it. The lobbying went on to add to the number of hubs until in the end there was about 20 hubs named, which totally diluted the effectiveness of the plan and rendered it useless. As a result Dublin/east coast continued to be the main focus of industial development and the regions remained as they were, only getting the leftovers.
PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2074 - 03/09/2025 13:37:21 2634751 Link 1 |
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Loads of room for knock airport to grow…there is literally nothing around it. Still waiting for the governments decision of SDZ zone.
yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11762 - 03/09/2025 14:07:47 2634756 Link 0 |
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I'll tell you a start would be finally completing the north south carriageway from Cork up to Donegal. Out 2nd and third largest cities (Cork and Limerick) not yet connected by motorway…a national disgrace. The N17 north of Charlestown to Collooney can only be described as a cattle track. Two trucks have to slow down passing each other on the main national route way up the west coast. Navigating through towns like Milltown, Charlestown, Tubbercurry, Ballybofey etc… Here in my part of rural south mayo we are still waiting for fibre broadband. GP and Hospital waiting lists through the roof. The only thing we appear to get is refugees landing into a small town with not enough resources for the local population…but sure that's a whole other debate. yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11762 - 03/09/2025 14:13:33 2634759 Link 0 |
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Build more houses but NIMBY Maroonatic (Galway) - Posts: 1072 - 03/09/2025 14:55:01 2634764 Link 2 |
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Before any planning issues, how would an airport between Mullingar and Athlone boost growth in the area?
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8229 - 03/09/2025 15:42:40 2634771 Link 0 |
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Changing your tune then so, 'It wouldn't upset me at all if she won' that's good to know, wouldn't want to see the like of you upset. We'll learn more about these candidates now as the thing progresses, I think it's important that our Uachtarán is fluent in our native language imo anyway, not sure how fluent Jim Gavin is? this could be a closer race than many think, I think the Dublin vote will be the decider though, Jim Gavin will be hard to beat if he gets the FF nomination. Sir Bob's a non runner imo, we can't have a knight of the realm as Uachtarán na hÉireann can we? Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3445 - 03/09/2025 16:44:35 2634783 Link 0 |
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Ireland was an agricultural country..less than 5 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture and less than 1 percent of our GDP comes from agriculture. Even in rural areas, less than a third of the people living there are farming. We are a services economy with some manufacturing. There is no reason why housing and infrastructure development shouldn't be shifted towards the western half. If we want the GAA as we know it to survive it needs to happen. High speed broadband nearly all over the country. Fair enough scenic areas of Connemara the Burren etc but rural housing around small villages and even one offs are not a problem as long as septic tanks are functioning. Electric cars will be the norm in the not so distant future so the Dublin Green rubbish of we all needing to be in towns to be sustainable doesn't wash.
FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 335 - 03/09/2025 17:44:47 2634791 Link 0 |
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How is there not much room for it to grow?!
TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8501 - 03/09/2025 18:38:02 2634798 Link 1 |
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* As a result Dublin/east coast continued to be the main focus of industial development and the regions remained as they were, only getting the leftovers.* I would not put the all of East coast into the same bucket as Dublin. As a few Wexford lads will tell you depopulation of villages is a real issue within GAA clubs. Wexford has never had much attention from Dublin in terms of attracting industry south. Why would they, the rail service is useless unless you are in Gorey and that is still not great, the roads have improved and yet they are planning multimillion development for Rosslare port but it does not have a motorway all the way and traffic has to crawl through some villages along the way. Had it not been for brexit they wouldn't have even bothered to have plans for it. The issue is the concentration in the cities as they have the Universities and Infrastructure to cater to the industries that Ireland now attracts. There is no strategic thinking on what should be done - Dublin Airport is a disaster and the political decision made years ago to expand it had nothing to do with economic planning but politics. You cannot blame companies for going to the Cities with there is no alternative. zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2065 - 03/09/2025 19:21:05 2634808 Link 0 |
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Dont see how Jim Gavin will be hard to beat if he gets the nom. Has no political pedigree. plenty wont know him or what he stands for. Like what does he stand for. have we seen him speak much on anything beyond the GAA in any depth over time
KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3819 - 03/09/2025 21:50:40 2634822 Link 1 |
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I'd agree that shouldn't have been watered down but Athlone needs to be in that. We need a decent sized city in the centre of the country stop and letting our large urban development to be still dictated by Viking settlements over a thousand years ago. Must be the only country in Europe with no large inland industrial city. With a modern functioning rail system Athlone should be very accessible from Dublin airport. Motorway already there. It could be a big employment hub to surrounding counties Westmeath, Roscommon, Offaly, East Galway, north Tipp, Longford even Laois. A good rail service would have people from East Galway, Ros etc there in jig time. Also being a small island, it should be relatively easy to have good rail connection between all major city's and the largest towns. The main lines especially with a speedy service. It should not take the same length of time to cross the country in a car as a train in this day and age. It should be possible to have a high speed train between Galway and Dublin taking 1.5 hours. Possibly even a half an hour or 45 mins from Athlone. The fact that if you want to travel by rail from Sligo to Killarney or Cork you have to go through Dublin is mental. FullOfPorter (Roscommon) - Posts: 335 - 04/09/2025 10:40:38 2634851 Link 0 |
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When did Cork become Ireland's second city?
tireoghainabu (Tyrone) - Posts: 413 - 04/09/2025 11:01:20 2634855 Link 1 |
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As his full time jobs were public service ones he'd have had constraints on what he'd say in public?
Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 104 - 04/09/2025 11:27:36 2634858 Link 1 |
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Political experience doesn't seem to be a key requirement anymore, which I think is a positive. He comes across as intelligent, rational and measured any time I've heard him speak. He seems to display good judgement and isn't prone to knee-jerk responses. He's had a successful career off the pitch, having served in the Air Corps and his current role requires a high level of competence. We'll hear a lot more from him during the campaign on various issues, so people can make their judgement then. WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2498 - 04/09/2025 12:15:42 2634866 Link 1 |