M11/N11 - M50 (J4) to Coyne's Cross (J14) [options published]

It's not an on-ramp, it's currently one-way from the N11 up the hill to Kilpedder and is mostly used by people coming from Delgany who have to take a sharp turn from the actual on-ramp, which is obviously quite dangerous for cars as they have to slow down to make a hairpin turn. However I don't see the issue with leaving the option for cyclists to turn up the hill onto a 2-way cycle lane.

And that proportional representation system is well suited to local elections to deal with local issues.

Local issues should not have any bearing on the running of the country. Do we want the country to be run by a cabinet of Healy Raes?

If the majority of our politicians are of the caliber you claim they are, then they can see beyond the vocal minority and see what the majority of their reasonable electorate want.

In which case I would conclude that the majority of people in north Wicklow do not want any change to the current road layout and the relevant politicians, including our Tánaiste, are aware of that.

Why would that change anything? List candidates would be regional on paper only, with their own hinterland of support that gets them the seat. If there’s any “problem” with our system it is that it very closely reflects the wishes of the electorate.. Every complaint I’ve ever seen about our electoral system boils down to “I don’t like the choices that voters make”, and tries to limit the amount of say that voters have in the choice of TDs, for instance by imposing party-selected lists (nullifying the power of ranked-choice voting), or shrinking constituencies (nullifying the power of the transferrable vote to benefit larger parties).

Dragging this back to the actual topic, the changes to this road are not only the business of people in North Wicklow, but also anyone who needs to bring a vehicle into Dublin from the south. It is both a local and national issue, and the desires of both of those sides are in conflict, so something has to give. If this was China, the local people would be served with eviction notices, paid a nominal compensation and the road would be widened. Some people here would support that kind of action here, but only because they’re not thinking ahead: once you let the government steamroller citizen’s rights like this, they’ll do it again, until it destroys something you might care about, or that might affect your family.

There’s a balance needed between capitulating to any whiny NIMBY at one end and paralysing the country as a result, and having no personal rights on the other. We’re nowhere close to either pole, despite what the shouty media might say.

I disagree about lists, as they deny the electorate the ability to choose between candidates within the list, and they make it impossible for the electorate to eject a party leader, but that disagreement doesn't belong here.

N11...

You may not like those guys, but voters in their constituencies do, and they regularly top the poll. Talk of national vote percentages and parties is just putting a pointless barrier in place, and one that would permanently remove smaller parties from the Dáil, and the likes of Lowry and Healy-Rae and all the other independents would just form a paper party to reach that national quota and would end up in an even stronger position as kingmakers.

Again you’re proposing comes down to the same gripe as always raised against our system: “I don’t like the candidates that other people vote for, so I want their votes to count less than mine”. Not accusing you of thinking this way, but it’s what any proposal of this kind will result in: some votes become less equal than others.

The only change I’d be in favour of would be anything that increased turnout, up to and including mandatory voting. I’d also favour automatic registration when you change address: students get to vote where they are living, unless they explicitly choose to keep their registration at their parent’s address. Anyone who feels strongly about not voting can use that conviction to turn up and draw a big mickey on their ballot paper every couple of years - I’d have a bit more respect for their opinion if they even did that.

I had planned to go but something came up. I will make a submission though.