Madam, - If the fiasco of "decentralisation" has a positive side, it is that it points to an awareness that the economic dominance of Dublin needs to be counterbalanced.
However, the only effect of rearranging a few reluctant civil servants will be to create more administrative friction, a commodity already in abundant supply. It will take much more radical decisions and reforms to achieve balanced development throughout the country. A serious examination of decentralisation of power, as opposed to the mere dispersal of staff, might be part of that, but there are also simple practical measures that could be taken.
For example, the present radial system of national roads forces traffic that has no business anywhere near Dublin (for instance Cork-Dundalk) to converge on the M50, or on de facto orbital routes on grossly inadequate regional and county roads through small towns such as Clane and Dunboyne. The proposed motorway system will simply reinforce this trend, whereas a grid pattern would offer a choice of fast routes linking all areas, avoid congestion pressure points, and aid the economic development of hinterland areas.
A north-south motorway through the Midlands with appropriate east-west links could form the backbone of such a system. Could this also be a solution to the controversy over the M3 route near the Hill of Tara?
Given the abundance of resources available at the moment we have a unique opportunity actively to manage the inevitable transition from a rural to an urban society, drawing on the experience of others who have been there before us. There is no good reason why we should not create viable urban centres, properly resourced with high-quality amenities and services, and linked by efficient public and private transport infrastructure.
First, however, elected representatives need to abandon the harmful delusion that all local interests can be accommodated when major developments and changes are under consideration. This invariably leads to unconscionable delays, dissipation of resources and fragmented outcomes. In contrast to other areas of public policy, mistakes made in the area of infrastructure and the built environment are generally irreversible, and compromise quality of life and future economic development for generations.
There is an historic opportunity to be grasped here, and there is nowhere to pass the buck if we fail to do so. - Yours, etc.,
CHARLES BAGWELL, Millbrook, Co Kildare.