Motorways not road to
riches
As the days of wine and roses (and surpluses) draw to a
close, we still see fit to pour money into that rather
vague notion of infrastructure.
This, it appears, is our master plan for hanging on to
our economic good times.
For "infrastructure" we can read motorways. There is no
coherent plan for public transport, or public anything,
for that matter.
But despite reports that a knowledge-based economy is the
way forward for our little island, the Government has a
motorway-building agenda and it wants to borrow money to
push it through.
No amount of blather about critical infrastructure from
various departments, or hand-wringing from ISME, is going
to make any difference to a manufacturing company's
decision to locate here.
It is wages, plain and simple, and on that score, we
cannot compete with low-cost economies such as those
found in Asia, even if we pave our streets with gold.
Indigenous businesses and local people do not require
motorways - tolled ones at that - to get around. Better
public transport and rail is required. This would also
take the pressure off the road network.
Declan Kenny,
Leixlip,
Co. Kildare.
© The Irish Independent, 6th. December 2007.
