Even if it was only a link to the airport, so what!? Why can we not have the same infrastructure so many other countries take for granted.
Of course, but the anti-rail lobby, anti-infrastructure lobby, pro-motor/motorway lobby plus the curmudgeon group of anti everything who want to knock it as being unnecessary and buses would do the job - after all it is just for the plebs - well they just want to belittle it.
Also all the orbital bus routes feeding into it.
I'm pro-motorway and I want it built. I want the best infrastructure across the board for what is supposed to be a wealthy country.
It's mind boggling that for a relatively small length of track we are now talking well after 2035 before it would open.
Ireland needs to up it's game.
Of course, but claiming it is a rail link for the airport opens up people getting their crayons out to devise alternatives. There simply is no alternative to connecting the airport and Swords.
I’ve made this point before and I’ll make it again. While we have an under resourced ABP planning purgatory will continue for all major projects indefinitely. To catch up on the massive amount of infrastructure projects we need built in this country we need an ABP that runs 3x 8 hour shifts 7 days a week to clear the backlog. Once the planning department is sorted we address the next bottleneck.
Of course we’ll never get an ABP like that but a serious investment needs to happen to expand the capacity of this organisation.
At least some investment has been greenlit, but they are struggling to fill the roles.
Just bypass ABP and issue the RO, it had long enough.
Could this even be done? I presume if this could happen it would lead to JRs but so what there will more than likely be a JR anyway?
I think major infrastructure projects should be prioritised for hearing of a JR.
They already do that in the commercial court for some cases.
There are plenty of people in government and the civil service who are against big infrastructure investment.
Maybe a Bord Pleanala that is slow and unfit-for-purpose, suits their agenda.
I think the big fear is that it is not given permission before the next general election. Michael mcdowell will run in the election. The ff fg will need the support of a few independents. McDowell will support them if the do a review of the terminal at Charlemont
Jaysus, there's some mad theories there. McDowell possibly running for the Dail propping up the government and using that to stop Metrolink is the best one yet though
McDowell's house is near Charlemont. I think he would have a fit if he was living near Charlestown which is out near Finglas.
oh yea brain fog moment 😀
Its don't like his stance on Metro, but he's been making good noises about other societal issues lately.
That’s enough about Michael McDowell please.
Back on track.
No, it absolutely could not be done.
There will be attempts at a JR but they are covering all their bases so the chances of an injunction are low. Bypassing ABP would just mean a guaranteed JR that is guaranteed to succeed and send them back to the drawing board after a bunch of wasted time.
yeah agreed it was a question I asked to a suggestion another poster made. Problem is how long is this gonna take in ABP- it’s getting ridiculous at this stage.
Hard to see any sort of progress this side of the summer at this stage. It'll be well into Autumn before the public consultations recommence I'd imagine. I doubt there will be any decision made this year on the Railway Order.
The application for a Railway Order was made in September 2022. A long aul slog of a process this is turning out to be. Will we have a decision by September 2025? 😶
At this stage it’s fairly obvious ABP is not fit for purpose and is actually the handbrake on Ireland inc.
It's absolutely a problem, though the govt greenlit something like 100 new roles there and they just can't fill them.
I was struck by the same thing when I heard about this new planning reform legislation that is going to set maximum timelines for the granting of permissions. If you had six months maximum and the application still hadn’t been fully processed and got an automatic grant, couldn’t someone just lodge a JR and say that the government hadn’t properly considered the application? They’d surely win, because that’s exactly what happened.
Curious but what exactly is the job description for these 100 roles? Id heard the local councils had been emptied with people going to ABP.
Not enough planners to fill the roles, only two undergrad and four post-grad courses on the island
Yes, also a problem as when the roles opened up the best people moved up to ABP (as makes sense). It's a top to bottom issue that there just aren't enough people to fill all the roles. How you fix that I don't know, though I would imagine pay and benefits just aren't good enough is part of the issue.
Yeah maybe, I have no real insight into the numbers. But it is mostly I think a case of under-resourcing the area for years and realising you can't click your fingers and magic qualified planners out of thin air.
You're mostly right there Podge but it's not correct to say the best planners moved to ABP. There are plenty of extremely talented and dedicated planners in councils around the country who are happy not to move to ABP. Partly because it'd mean a move to Dublin as its a very centralised organisation still.
Are there people in the private sector this could be outsourced to In parallel?
I've realized that the issue with ABP is not solely down to resourcing. You only have to look at the planning approval report for the Swords CBC to see the bigger issue.
A 329 page report of hard text responding (in the most minute detail) to every comment and submission made on the project. The entire report is crammed with references to various planning laws, guidelines, local area plans, other guidelines, new laws, best practice...... What an absolute nightmare.
All that work needed to avoid NIMBYs taking Judicial Reviews, and yet the NIMBYs still find ways to take JRs. No amount of resourcing can tackle that without changing the underlying NIMBY culture.
Nope, private sector is also at capacity. That's across architects, ecologists, engineers etc. on top of planners. Everyone points to a lack of builders as a problem but it's much more than that
