The Recovery Has Barely Started And Dublin is at breaking point

MilesMorales1 · 26-10-2016 08:44PM #1

https://lovindublin.com/opinion/the-recovery-has-barely-started-and-dublin-is-already-at-breaking-point

We've all heard stories of the excess that took place in those days, high-fliers pissed on champagne mojitos and jetting off to Bulgarian property expos trying to figure out what to do with all their new found "spare" cash that the banks had given them.

The Government at this time were running a huge budget surplus but this being Ireland, very little of it was used to improve the infrastructure in the city, with the exception of the Luas. Even that was so poorly thought out that today Dublin city centre looks like a war zone as they frantically try and connect the two lines over a decade later.

I'm in City centre every day and I agree very much with the sentiments in this article. The town currently looks awful, traffic is awful with the constant work being down. Nothing has been done about the anti social elements, which while not being as bad as people say is bad enough. It's just grey and dour and depressing and it doesn't feel like much of a recovery, even if it was. And thats to say nothing of the parts of the country that haven't had the recovery.

Arcade_Tryer · 26-10-2016 08:50PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Nothing has been done about the anti social elements

The homeless..?

MilesMorales1 · 26-10-2016 08:53PM

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

The homeless..?

And the aggressive junkies and aggressive beggars yes.

tigger123 · 26-10-2016 08:54PM

There's A LOT of winos hanging around town these days.

sonny.roofer · 26-10-2016 08:55PM

Have they no homes to go to?

LordSutch · 26-10-2016 08:59PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

The Recovery Has Barely Started And Dublin is at breaking point

So its only right then that we invite all the London City banks over 'post Brexit' :cool:

Pinch Flat · 26-10-2016 09:00PM

Years of underinvestment has got us where we are. We underinvest in virtually everything - public infrastructure, health, education, social services. The evidence is all around for us to see.

enricoh · 26-10-2016 09:04PM

Peanuts spent on infrastructure in the last 10 years because it's a lot easier politically for the government to save on capital spending than current spending.

No one will be whining on Joe Duffy if a road doesn't get upgraded , but cutting any social welfare or public servants pay equals war!

smurgen · 26-10-2016 10:40PM

The rental situation is out of control.double rooms in shared houses going for 800-1000 and singles going up to 700.wages didn't rise to match the jump in the cost of living.i will be moving abroad again in the next 12-18 months.

James Bond Junior · 26-10-2016 10:49PM

I've been saying in quite a few other threads. Dublin needs capital investment clearly but what Ireland needs more is investment in a counterbalance to Dublin. Dublin has seen the lions share of inward investment in the last 30 years and is now unable to take anymore. It's time to look at our other cities and large towns as a way to relieve this.

ChikiChiki · 26-10-2016 10:54PM

Bad governments full of greedy self interested individuals with no ambition for the country. Thats our problem there. No investment in the future even when Britain has voted for Brexit we are slow to get the infrastructure in to maximise the opportunity. Instead let's have some giveaway budgets and get the people on side is the Govts mantra. Historically speaking we wait for the issues to arise and people to kick up a fuss before doing something. Brexit will further reduce supply and push rents up as top talent migrates over, no doubt about it. The country is like it's in a slow car crash and I expect mass protests around various social issues in the next few years.

We could be have been European Singapore if we really wanted to with top class infrastructure and living standards but the chance will be lost. So frustrating.

MilesMorales1 · 26-10-2016 11:02PM

I'm not a smart man, but why did it take 12 years was it, to link the two Luas lines up?

Pinch Flat · 26-10-2016 11:22PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

I'm not a smart man, but why did it take 12 years was it, to link the two Luas lines up?

It's actually longer. 1998 when they were mulling it over. Political interference and vested interests ensured it was delayed. Another problem with the country - its planned election to election, so anything longer than that is going to take decades to realise.

http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/revealedorourke-lost-bid-to-link-luas-26451584.html

Fratton Fred · 26-10-2016 11:35PM

Pinch Flat wrote: »

It's actually longer. 1998 when they were mulling it over. Political interference and vested interests ensured it was delayed. Another problem with the country - its planned election to election, so anything longer than that is going to take decades to realise.

http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/revealedorourke-lost-bid-to-link-luas-26451584.html

Or to put it another way, London planned and built cross rail in about the same time

Bonzo Delaney · 26-10-2016 11:37PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

I'm not a smart man, but why did it take 12 years was it, to link the two Luas lines up?

because it would of been the logical thing to do , we don't do logical

JupiterKid · 26-10-2016 11:45PM

The housing crisis is the biggest and most urgent problem facing Dublin. It's a disgrace.

The lack of spending on public transport infrastructure is a scandal.

Dublin needs to have the pressure taken off it. There were opportunities to do this by developing the provincial cities as a counterbalance but this has IMO now passed.

yermanoffthetv · 27-10-2016 01:44AM

enricoh wrote: »

Peanuts spent on infrastructure in the last 10 years because it's a lot easier politically for the government to save on capital spending than current spending.

No one will be whining on Joe Duffy if a road doesn't get upgraded , but cutting any social welfare or public servants pay equals war!

I know I'm going to get some stick for this and people are going to say it's the least of our problems but I was walking around Cork at the weekend and noticed how shabby and half arsed the public realm is. Broken pavements, the odd shovel of tarmac thrown here and there, bike lanes that run for one street, dingey unlit streets and a complete lack of adequate green spaces and landscaping.(I'm not having a go at Cork here, all towns and cities are guilty of this)

It's a shame because our cities could be much nicer places to live if comparatively modest improvements were made. I mention this only because if we can't get these relatively simple things right what hope is there for forwarded thinking in integrated transport and progressive urban planning

27-10-2016 07:22AM

ChikiChiki wrote: »

We could be have been European Singapore if we really wanted to with top class infrastructure and living standards but the chance will be lost. So frustrating.

You'd have to migrate everybody to Dublin to be like Singapore. High density city-states are easier to manage and are very prosperous.

A major problem in this country is parish pump politics. With about 35 - 40% of our population living rural, we have too many TDs looking after rural areas while neglecting Dublin. There's no future in rural Ireland, it can't be fixed. All the companies want to set up in urban areas. The trend is towards urbanization and most industrialized nations have small rural populations.

We need to cancel the rollout of fibre optic to rural areas and gradually remove subsidies to rural-dwellers, just bankrupt them of of their cozy lifestyle.

JustTheOne · 27-10-2016 07:31AM

And the fact that a certain section relies on mister tax payer to fund certain lifestyles and we have elected politicians backing them up.

Hi Paul, Ruth, Claire, mick.

It's unsustainable but when these people go to the papers with sob stories politicians are scared ****less there will be a mob outside their house and they win.

We need a government who will make the hard decisions that will annoy people but is good for the country in the long run.

No more pandering to every section who cries and moans.

27-10-2016 07:49AM

The situation in Dublin now is a mess - the price of housing is so ridiculously expensive that peoples' lives are being ruined having to commute 4 hours a day to work in the only place there are any jobs. But, but, muh free market economics .... whatever, but don't pretend human beings don't have emotions and that having to commute so far to work doesn't make them depressed. So much for the quality of life improving as time passes. No amount of comfortable beds, smart tvs, gourmet food can make up for the depression that results if you don't have a high-flying career (which used to be noteworthy but is now considered baseline), nice house (which used to be attainable in a decent job but now is both baseline and requires two people to work in great jobs) and if you do attain these things, the price you are paying mentally is usually so great that you don't even get any pleasure out of them, and because they are considered baseline nowadays all you are doing is staving off feelings of inferiority, rather than relishing your material comforts which your ancestors would have been rolling on the floor laughing at because they are so luxurious. If we think things are bad now, I feel for the generation coming down the tracks - psychological battlefield they are being born into.

JustTheOne · 27-10-2016 08:03AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The situation in Dublin now is a mess - the price of housing is so ridiculously expensive that peoples' lives are being ruined having to commute 4 hours a day to work in the only place there are any jobs. But, but, muh free market economics .... whatever, but don't pretend human beings don't have emotions and that having to commute so far to work doesn't make them depressed. So much for the quality of life improving as time passes. No amount of comfortable beds, smart tvs, gourmet food can make up for the depression that results if you don't have a high-flying career (which used to be noteworthy but is now considered baseline), nice house (which used to be attainable in a decent job but now is both baseline and requires two people to work in great jobs) and if you do attain these things, the price you are paying mentally is usually so great that you don't even get any pleasure out of them, and because they are considered baseline nowadays all you are doing is staving off feelings of inferiority, rather than relishing your material comforts which your ancestors would have been rolling on the floor laughing at because they are so luxurious. If we think things are bad now, I feel for the generation coming down the tracks - psychological battlefield they are being born into.

Agree on some points.

Humans are the best on the planet at adapting.

Do you think countries around the world don't experience the same or worst and are still functioning?

ChikiChiki · 27-10-2016 08:29AM

JustTheOne wrote: »

Agree on some points.

Humans are the best on the planet at adapting.

Do you think countries around the world don't experience the same or worst and are still functioning?

We have an serious escalating problem here in Ireland with suicide amongst men. I'm convinced our society is getting sicker and some of the reasons Onionbelt has mentioned are a part cause. It's staggering the amount of people who have took their lives and had mental breakdowns in my area (commuter town in North Kildare).

Thundercats Ho · 27-10-2016 08:36AM

LordSutch wrote: »

So its only right then that we invite all the London City banks over 'post Brexit' :cool:

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Or to put it another way, London planned and built cross rail in about the same time

Jesus, would ye give it a rest for 5 fvcking minutes.

27-10-2016 08:43AM

JustTheOne wrote: »

Agree on some points.

Humans are the best on the planet at adapting.

Do you think countries around the world don't experience the same or worst and are still functioning?

If the rest of the world has it worse, either because the problems of extreme poverty outweigh the problems like those above, or else because the problems like those above are even worse, then I concede they have it worse. But accepting that I form my perspective using my natural reference points which are other people living in Ireland, things look and feel pretty bad. Things can be bad even if others have it worse.

It is worth admitting to oneself also that it is a fact that once a person or population becomes used to having their basic needs met, like most of us nowadays in Ireland are, then we can't help but begin to experience our waking minutes being mentally occupied with more self-absorbed, mundane stuff - suddently social stuff starts to impact more on our minds than having enough for food, electricity etc.

WesternZulu · 27-10-2016 08:52AM

511 wrote: »

There's no future in rural Ireland, it can't be fixed. All the companies want to set up in urban areas. The trend is towards urbanization and most industrialized nations have small rural populations.

We need to cancel the rollout of fibre optic to rural areas and gradually remove subsidies to rural-dwellers, just bankrupt them of of their cozy lifestyle.

To be honest such a mentality is regressive rather than progressive.
What are these subsidies that rural dwellers get anyway?

Citroen2cv · 27-10-2016 08:55AM

511 wrote: »

A major problem in this country is parish pump politics. With about 35 - 40% of our population living rural, we have too many TDs looking after rural areas while neglecting Dublin. There's no future in rural Ireland, it can't be fixed. All the companies want to set up in urban areas. The trend is towards urbanization and most industrialized nations have small rural populations.

We need to cancel the rollout of fibre optic to rural areas and gradually remove subsidies to rural-dwellers, just bankrupt them of of their cozy lifestyle.

Noboday said we want companies to set up in rural area. It would make sense to encourage them to setup in Irelands other cities. We need a second city in Ireland, to take the pressure off Dublin in 2 ways:

Transport Infrastructure is at breaking point in Dublin
Housing crisis in Dublin - There has been so much talk of housing crisis in last ~ 3 years, but very few new affordable houses built

andekwarhola · 27-10-2016 08:55AM

Voters contribute to a culture where tax reductions are prioritized over infrastructure and transport investment in the good times and then whinge when we have things like the main orbital motorway for the capital city essentially being a car park at peak times.

stateofflux · 27-10-2016 08:59AM

the M50 took decades to complete. it will be decades before another one is finished.

gramar · 27-10-2016 09:00AM

511 wrote: »

You'd have to migrate everybody to Dublin to be like Singapore. High density city-states are easier to manage and are very prosperous.

A major problem in this country is parish pump politics. With about 35 - 40% of our population living rural, we have too many TDs looking after rural areas while neglecting Dublin. There's no future in rural Ireland, it can't be fixed. All the companies want to set up in urban areas. The trend is towards urbanization and most industrialized nations have small rural populations.

We need to cancel the rollout of fibre optic to rural areas and gradually remove subsidies to rural-dwellers, just bankrupt them of of their cozy lifestyle.

Rubbish...Dublin is being neglected? Cozy lifestyle? Come on....
The whole problem in Ireland is that no government has ever had a plan to develop multiple urban areas in cities like Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick so they have the required infrastructure to attract business which in turn attracts workers who settle there thereby spreading the burden.

Everything in Ireland is Dublin-centric but it's not because people necessarily want to be there. The country is woefully unbalanced and instead of taking measures to resolve it straw is continually heaped onto an already broken camel's back.

_Brian · 27-10-2016 09:02AM

This is a result of poor planning yet again.

Focus has been to create recovery within the greater Dublin area and now the results are being seen.

Again we have created too much economic activity in an area with no housing and not enough transport infrastructure.

Pepe LeFrits · 27-10-2016 09:07AM

Dublin needs an elected Mayor. Hard to see how the city will ever get a coherent plan otherwise.

The Recovery Has Barely Started And Dublin is at breaking point

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