Grinds My Gears!! - Issue 16

As you will be well aware, more often than not I try to keep the tone of GMG comical, but on rare occasions I'm called upon to make them more serious. This is such an occasion. A few issues back I made a joke about people complaining, particularly protesters. Now that joke still remains, however the protesters I'm talking about here are of a different sort.....

The Hill of Tara Vs the M3 has been one of the biggest ongoing debates in this year and last year. Most recently, the saga reached boiling point when protesters dug themselves into the ground to prevent construction. THIS is the type of protesting that pisses me off! First of all, look at the map - the M3 goes nowhere near the Hill itself. Furthermore, it is actually further away from the hill than the existing road!! It's this type of bullshit anti-globalisation protesting that is keeping Ireland behind in the world as far as infrastructure goes. We had the same problem with the completion of the M50 a few years back!

Yes as you can see the road goes over historic sites, that isn't denied. But archaelogical digs have been carried out, and all artefacts have been retained and so on. Ireland is an historic place, but we can't sacrifice pots and pans for a badly needed motorway. A poll showed that 90% of the people in the area WANT this road. Furthermore, it was also found that the protesters aren't even from the bleedin' area! They're people with nothing better to do than cause trouble for everyone else. As an aspiring engineer, I can see just how infuriating this type of BS really is! Instead of these people actually going out and getting a job, putting money into the economy, they are instead damaging the economy and wasting tax payers money by not letting people get on with their jobs! They have effectively invaded a construction site - which is against the law - and should henceforth be arrested. The anti-globalistation crap has gone on long enough in Ireland. Only now are we starting to build 100m+ towers across Dublin, namely the U2 Tower, the Point Depot Tower and the Heuston Tower (all below)

People who get in the way of these kinds of things are just asking for trouble. At the Glen of the Downs in Wicklow, people literally climbed into trees to stop construction of the N11, which (now that it is completed) has been a huge success in reducing commute times. We are so far behind the rest of the world in getting our act together on these matters...its actually quite unbelievable. In the time it takes for us to get one project through planning permission, another EU country will have 3 skyscrapers built. It's an absolute God-send that acts are now being passed which will stop vital infrastructural projects like the Metro and future motorways from being blocked. Instead, maybe these people who like to get in the way would better spend their time working. They've said "Redirect the road". Trust me when I say (even after doing brief road design) that it isn't as simple as just "drawing a new line on the map". Do these people seriously think that the Government have purposefully placed the road where it it just to piss people off? No, its there because that's the most economical solution available, avoiding further spending of tax payers money. But alas, since this select group of people not even from the area have decided to hold everything up...tax payer's money is being wasted.

People seriously need a rethink and start cutting the bullshit and let this country move on into the future. Ask any layman and they'll say they couldn't give a damn about this road. And on a personal level I don't really either (I mean I don't live in the area, nor do I drive through that area), but professionally, since it is this sector I'll be working in, the frustration and angst it is causing is unbelievable. A few months back, one student filed a High Court (or Supreme Court) injunction or something like that which has held up progress. Not stopped it, just held it up until it has gone through the courts. To think that an act of one person can stop a whole project is simply unacceptable. Yeah, yeah free-speech and all that but you have to draw the line somewhere. Far more people want this road; particularly those living in the area, and that should speak volumes for how badly it's needed. The Hill of Tara itself will be untouched, and so what if we lose a few stone walls? Dublin City itself must be built on top of historical sites left, right and centre!

So let's cut the crap and get on with moving this country forward!

~The Damo