Dream time. If you had €200 billion what would you spend it on?

Praetorian · 15-12-2019 10:57am #1

If you had €200 billion what infrastructure projects would you splash out on to improve our country?

BionicRasher · 15-12-2019 11:00am

A roof

bk · 15-12-2019 1:53pm

It is an interesting question and the fact that I'd struggle to come up with 200bn worth of projects *.

* I'm thinking about projects that honestly really needed and would really boost our nation and quality of life and not just paving every R road in gold.

Obviously first up, get Metrolink, DART Expansion, DART Underground and BusConnects done.

Next maybe 2 or 3 other Metros for Dublin (NE to SW, NW to SE and a radial line). Also look at quad tracking the Northern line.

At least one Luas line for Cork/Limerick/Galway with underground sections where needed and a big investment in their bus services.

M20 between Cork and Limerick and the Cork NRR.

A comprehensive and fully connected greenway network.

More interconnectors to France and maybe Norway and lots more wind farms.

Electrify the Cork to Belfast line.

Idbatterim · 15-12-2019 2:10pm

I wonder if c/g/l would be better off with electric brt... way cheaper ,and quicker ,to build ,far less disruptive, can reroute if it needs too. Far safer for cyclists, scooters etc. hence far higher likelihood of it actually going ahead. can be twenty four hour ...

Why isn’t there hard shoulder running for buses on m50 at peak time ? You could potentially make bus journeys free at peak time on normal working days , for trips from north of airport to sandyford, Dundrum , leopardstown , carrickimes etc and reverse it in evening

Lord Fairlord · 15-12-2019 8:14pm

If I had my way and €200 billion, not only would I spend much more on coastal defence but I'd actively be trying to reclaim land from the sea.
Also pretty much everything that bk mentioned in his reply to the question.

15-12-2019 8:15pm

I don’t know how much I’d get for the money but I’d build motorways.

ohographite · 15-12-2019 8:56pm

A lot of what I'm about to say is controversial, just to give a warning.

The most important thing I'd want spend it on would be lots of wind turbine farms, and lots of solar panel farms, so we can have more environmentally sustainable electricity.

I'd electrify the rail network(or at least most of it) to make rail travel more environmentally sustainable in Ireland.

Then, I'd deliver an improvement in frequencies and journey times of all intercity train services, as follows:
Dublin-Cork: 2 hrs 15 mins, 18 trains daily
Dublin-Galway: 1 hr 50 mins, 17 trains daily
Dublin-Waterford: 1 hour 40 mins, 17 trains daily
Dublin-Tralee: 2 hours 50 mins, 9 trains daily
Dublin-Westport: 2 hours 15 mins, 9 trains daily
Dublin-Limerick via Nenagh: 1 hour 50 mins, 8 trains daily
Dublin-Belfast: 1 hr 25 mins, 18 trains daily
Dublin-Sligo: 1 hr 50 mins, 9 trains daily
Dublin-Wexford: 1 hr 40 mins, 9 trains daily
Limerick-Waterford: 1 hr 10 mins, 9 trains daily
Cork-Galway: 2 hrs, 9 trains daily

I'd reopen the following railways:
M3 Parkway-Navan
Kilmessan-Trim(which merges with M3 Parkway-Navan)
Navan-Navan North(a small section of the Kingscourt line)
Limerick-Dooradoyle
Limerick-Raheen
Midleton-Youghal
Sallins-Naas

I'd pay for construction of new railways, too:
Hazelhatch-Maynooth(via Celbridge, so it can have a proper train service, and so Sligo trains can use the phoenix park tunnel and the Heuston-Hazelhatch multi-track to get in and out of Dublin quickly)
M3 Parkway-Ashbourne(via Rathoath)
DART underground
Metro North(with a Swords-Donabate extension)
Metro West(with a Tallaght-Knocklyon-Ballinteer-Sandyford extension)
Poolbeg Luas
Finglas Luas

I'd open continuous greenways along the Grand Canal and Royal Canal, and I'd open greenways on all the disused railway alignments except for the ones I previously said I wanted to reopen as railways.

I've probably gone over budget, and I don't believe most of these will ever be done, but that these are the infrastructure-related things I would do if I had the money to do it.

afatbollix · 15-12-2019 11:54pm

200 billion is a ****e ton of money.

Prioritise a tram system in Cork, Galway, and Limerick. But make sure it's integrated into Bus and national rail.

Eleticfy Cork to Belfast

New train line out from Connoly to Swords and onto Belfast

New Luas in Dublin out to Swords via Dublin airport, Lucan & Terenure.

A tunnel for the Dart so that they can come from Kildare, Mullingar, Drodagra & Navan.

Motorways to Castlebar, Sligo and Letterkenny. Id also upgrade most national roads to 2+2 with a concrete barrer down the middle.

Make a outer M50.

And Make use of those school buses which are only used twice a day. Get them out for OAPs to get to the shops instead of sat at the entrance to the farm.

Ronan|Raven · 15-12-2019 11:57pm

I would spend it all on external consultants and the commisioning of reports.

16-12-2019 2:59am

I'd build a motorway and railway from Cork to Derry taking in Limerick, Galway and Sligo. This would do for the economy of the western seaboard what the Wild Atlantic Way is doing for its tourism.
I'd have to do something for the region between the eastern and western seaboards, not sure if it has a name (more than the midlands) but that region equidistant from both from the south coast to north coast and passing through Athlone. This region is quiet well connected with Dublin so I'd probably concentrate on connecting it with the western seaboard and with the eastern seaboard outside of Dublin.
Where I've mentioned regions that extend into NI then the projects would be done in cooperation with the NI/UK governments.

16-12-2019 3:48am

Lord Fairlord wrote: »

If I had my way and €200 billion, not only would I spend much more on coastal defence but I'd actively be trying to reclaim land from the sea.
Also pretty much everything that bk mentioned in his reply to the question.

Why would you reclaim land from the sea?

Idbatterim · 16-12-2019 4:26am

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I would spend it all on external consultants and the commisioning of reports.

That you every transport minister we have ever had ?

tdf7187 · 16-12-2019 5:32am

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I don’t know how much I’d get for the money but I’d build motorways.

Aren't you being a little under ambitious? With €200bn, you could cover the entire country in motorways and carparks. Tell you what, leave say €5mn aside, you could buy a whole bunch of guns and weaponry to get rid of any pesky wild-life.

tdf7187 · 16-12-2019 5:34am

I'd put most of it in a high speed rail network, put a bit of spare change into national defence.

tdf7187 · 16-12-2019 5:35am

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I would spend it all on external consultants and the commisioning of reports.

You'd need more than €200bn.

16-12-2019 6:04am

tdf7187 wrote: »

Aren't you being a little under ambitious? With €200bn, you could cover the entire country in motorways and carparks. Tell you what, leave say €5mn aside, you could buy a whole bunch of guns and weaponry to get rid of any pesky wild-life.

I wouldn’t want to get rid of wild life. I’d just build the required motorways - new Dublin outer ring, M20, Cork to west Cork, complete M2, complete M11, etc.

daedal · 16-12-2019 7:02am

Build a hyper loop. Automate everything, taxis and buses, so you won't have to deal with the scumbags driving them. Maybe quad-copter buses. Maybe even hot air balloon transport for those who like to cruise to their destination.

magicbastarder · 16-12-2019 10:15am

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I don’t know how much I’d get for the money but I’d build motorways.

EVERYONE gets a motorway from their front door to their workplace.

bk · 16-12-2019 11:35am

Idbatterim wrote: »

I wonder if c/g/l would be better off with electric brt... way cheaper ,and quicker ,to build ,far less disruptive, can reroute if it needs too. Far safer for cyclists, scooters etc. hence far higher likelihood of it actually going ahead. can be twenty four hour ...

I mean if we were seriously talking about this, then I'd probably largely agree with you. However the point of this thread is if we had a big pot of money.

Initially I was going to say a Metro for each of these cities, but that would probably be overkill and fall under "paving in gold". Which is why I went with a high quality tram for each instead. Give these cities a proper taste of high quality public transport and set them up for further development as their populations increase.

I will say that Cork is probably just about big enough for a Luas.

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I wouldn’t want to get rid of wild life. I’d just build the required motorways - new Dublin outer ring, M20, Cork to west Cork, complete M2, complete M11, etc.

The reason people are complaining, is because motorways have already gotten loads of investment over the past 20 years. Over 15bn been invested in them already and we now have a pretty great and comprehensive network.

It is rail and public transport that have been massively under-invested over the last 20 years and needs most of the attention, not motorways.

Having said that the projects you mention like the M20 need doing too, but they would only add up to less then 5bn. So easily doable out of the 200bn, leaving loads for all the Metro's etc.

ncounties · 16-12-2019 2:21pm

Much of it has already been listed, but my key points would be:

Urban Public Transport
Luas to Finglas, Bray, Poolbeg, Lucan and Clarehall (with quad tracking in the city centre and orbital innercity route to allow for different routes),
Metro Link but at the capacity of Metro North,
Metro Orbital,
DART Underground and Expansion,
Luas Cork,
Cork Suburban Rail electrified,
Second, wider, Bray Head Tunnel,
Quadtrack to Greystones,

National Rail Infrastructure
Quadtracking and straigthening the Northern Line (the whole way to Belfast) to allow for service speeds up to 200kph,
Quadtracking and straightening the Cork/Limerick line to Kildare to allow for service speeds up to 200kph,
Quadtracking and straightening the Galway line to Enfield to allow for service speeds up to 200kph,
Dual track line from Newry, via Armagh to Derry at 200kph,
A fleet of pendelino trains capable of running half hourly services between Belfast to Cork (via Dublin), and hourly Limerick, Derry and Galway services ex. Dublin.
Direct line between Cork and Limerick via Adare (120kph capable),
M3 Parkway to Navan,
M3 Parkway to Ashbourne,

National Road Infrastructure
Active Traffic Management Systems installed on M50, M11 to Greystones, M7 to Kildare, M1 to Drogheda, M4 to Kilcock, M3 to Parkway,
M20 - Limerick to Cork
M2 extended to Aughnacloy,
M25 - Cork to Rosslare,

tharlear · 16-12-2019 4:19pm

I would take the 200billion and put in a national wealth management fund, should earn about 10 to 15billion a year. Then after about 10 years I'd build what previous people suggest, trains motorways greenways. I assume it would take about that long to get any of these projects through ANP and an taisce, and the NIMBY law suits. The money earned each year might pay the legal bills. Sure they might get the Galway and Slane bypasses, the m20, the inter-connector, metro north, started, a bridge to Scotland, to the moon

Even if that was not true, the country does not have capacity to spend 200billion. It would need to be broken up over a 10 to 15 year time frame, spending more during the downs time when you would get more for each Euro. 10 to 15 billion a year over the long term would build rail, road , greenways, smart grid, water; drinking, storm and sewer, broadband, schools etc. kinda sounds like Norway

Ah but what am I thinking that would require planning and the gob****e in charge not to raid the fund for the grannies and the "non" workers.

Think of the elections ya could (buy) win with 200billion

Harry Palmr · 16-12-2019 4:37pm

I'd build a series of massive renewable projects which would take advantage of our particular prevailing weather conditions including off shore wind farms on the south east and east coast. I'd also look at that project in Cork - the hydro scheme that was proposed about 8-10 years ago.

The Shannon to Dublin mega-pipe would be built to move water east in the Autumn/Winter which would be stored in a new reservoir.

Intercity motorways between the "other 4" and on to Derry.

orangerhyme · 16-12-2019 4:43pm

As well as BusConnects, I'd replace all buses with electric buses. Build modern bus depots outside m50 and build 1000's apartments on old bus depot land which is :Broadstone, Ringsend, Donnybrook, Heuston, Summerhill, Clontarf.

Build large scale offshore wind farms with pumped hydropower on land as storage.

This will allow the removal of Ardnacrusha and could restore Shannon to it's former glory.
Could phase out Moneypoint also.

bmc58 · 16-12-2019 4:44pm

Praetorian wrote: »

If you had €200 billion what infrastructure projects would you splash out on to improve our country?

Insulate every house in Ireland that need it.Cavity insulation or if solid brick outside cladding.

Build a huge prison on one of the islands off the west coast for anyone caught drug dealing, TD's caught fiddling,civil servants found to have carelessly wasted public money and staff it well.Sentences to be served fully,no remission.

Zebra3 · 16-12-2019 4:47pm

You'd need a bigger jail to hold the TDs. :pac:

riemann · 16-12-2019 4:50pm

Would it not make sense to go underground instead of building more Luas tracks?

darklighter · 16-12-2019 4:51pm

bmc58 wrote: »

Insulate every house in Ireland that need it.Cavity insulation or if solid brick outside cladding.

Build a huge prison on one of the islands off the west coast for anyone caught drug dealing, TD's caught fiddling,civil servants found to have carelessly wasted public money and staff it well.Sentences to be served fully,no remission.

Two excellent suggestions!

I'd go a step further re. the prison idea & have the most egregious offenders partake in "Battle Royale" style games on an offshore island, which would be televised worldwide - the fee income from that would set us up to have the best possible quality of life in the world

smelly sock · 16-12-2019 4:51pm

Hookers, Cocaine and I'd blow the rest.

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 4:54pm

Hyperloop e.g. Dub-Galway in 17mins. Belfast to Cork 30mins (give of take a few seconds).
New Futuristic Green (car-free) High-rise city (also Central Hyperloop Central Terminal) at geo-centre of Island: Carnagh East

Complimentary:
UBI combined with 4-day work-weeks and free education.
Funding to end to corp & personal tax-evasion (savings directed to Health).
Support for a new zero-tolerance crime policy (prison barge placed on the Liffey).
Clamp down on corruption and public waste of funds (big printers etc).

seamie78 · 16-12-2019 4:54pm

a mono rail of course

4068ac1elhodqr · 16-12-2019 4:57pm

bmc58 wrote: »

Build a huge prison on one of the islands off the west coast for anyone caught drug dealing, TD's caught fiddling,civil servants found to have carelessly wasted public money and staff it well.Sentences to be served fully,no remission.

A cheap Chinese floating barge (ship) would be cheaper. Call it a 'correctional facility', as this sounds nicer and true to purpose. Would also provide plenty of work for student psychologists and life coaches (nearly every street has a life coach these days).

Dream time. If you had €200 billion what would you spend it on?

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