Shannon water for Dublin

Calling criticism of posts “thin skinned” is a bit of a deflection. Pointing out a pattern in someone’s posting history is not the same thing as being unable to take criticism. People criticise Dublin all the time. What I pointed out is that you repeatedly start threads and posts framing Dublin infrastructure as something that shouldn’t happen at all. That’s a different thing.

On the project itself, the claim that it is somehow uniquely complex compared to previous infrastructure projects does not really stand up either. Ireland has already delivered extremely complex projects under heavy scrutiny. The Corrib Gas Project involved offshore infrastructure, high pressure pipelines and years of legal challenges. The M3 went through one of the most sensitive archaeological landscapes in Europe. The Dublin Port Tunnel was a major urban tunnelling project built under a capital city.

All of them faced environmental review, planning challenges and legal scrutiny. All of them ultimately proceeded after mitigation, redesign and court processes.

Large infrastructure always attracts objections and legal challenges. That does not mean it collapses once it is tested through the planning and environmental system.

And the core issue still remains: Dublin already has the population. Infrastructure has to support the people who live there now. That is basic planning, not “thin skin.”

Dublin already treats wastewater from neighbouring counties.

Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant has just been upgraded and the new Greater Dublin Drainage Project at Clonshaugh is on the way.

You’re still framing it as if this is solely about Dublin, when it isn’t. The Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project is designed as a regional supply and resilience project, not a single city pipeline. The scheme is intended to support and stabilise water supply across a large part of the country including Dublin, Meath, Kildare and parts of Wicklow, and it also strengthens supply for towns along the route.

That includes places such as Athlone, Mullingar, Tullamore, Portlaoise, Portarlington, Mountmellick, Mountrath, Abbeyleix, Monasterevin, Kildare Town, Naas, Newbridge, Maynooth, Leixlip, Kilcock, Trim, Navan, Drogheda, Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Swords and Dublin, along with many smaller communities supplied from the same regional network.

So the idea that this project only “feeds Dublin” simply isn’t accurate. It is about creating a secure water supply for the entire Eastern and Midlands region, which already contains around 40 percent of the country’s population and a very large share of its industry, hospitals and universities.

And the argument that providing basic infrastructure somehow removes incentives for regional development doesn’t really hold up. Reliable water, energy and transport are exactly the things that allow towns outside the capital to grow. Without that infrastructure, development simply cannot happen.

As for the comments about “bias”, you are the one who has repeatedly framed this discussion around Dublin itself rather than the broader national infrastructure question. Pointing that out is not thin skinned, it is just responding to the argument you are making.

And the premise of the thread doesn’t really hold up either, the thread went in the exact same direction as the last one, the way you didn't want it to go. Ireland already has an established capital with over a million people in its wider urban area and a national economy centred around it. You cannot solve housing, traffic or water issues by deciding to build a “new Athlone” somewhere else. Cities grow over decades through networks of jobs, universities, ports, hospitals and infrastructure.

Large infrastructure projects in Ireland also regularly face objections but still proceed once they pass planning and environmental scrutiny. Corrib Gas, the M3 and the Dublin Port Tunnel were all predicted to fail and yet were built because the infrastructure was needed.

The Eastern region water supply is already heavily dependent on the Liffey system and under pressure. Securing a long term, resilient supply for the wider Eastern and Midlands region is simply basic infrastructure planning.