'Avoid feeding potage to the legal parasites' |
Paddy O'Keeffe |
Irish Farmer's Journal |
The poor mouth gets heard by UN and ERSI Road works should not be blocked |
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Controversy abounds on the issue of Irish road renewal. Our roads cannot cope with today's traffic density. Delays are universal on our main routes and the problems overflow into secondary roads. All cost money Apart from personal inconvenience unnecessary expense is added to every sector of Irish business. Bad roads are a brake on economic progress. Fortunately the State decision to tackle the problem is with us. Finance is available and the preliminaries are receiving attention. Unfortunately controversy has erupted. An indispensable roads programme is threatened with further delay. Economic growth is at risk from traffic sclerosis. Development must not be stalled. What issues have arisen? First we had the question of compensation for land compulsorily acquired. Prevailing auction prices were the basis of payment. There was little consideration for disturbance and none for loss of commercial viability in properties fragmented by new road work. This matter has been taken up by the IFA. I gather that an understanding with the authorities is near and hopefully progress will not be delayed by this issue. Land costs are a small 5-7 per cent of total. Then we have the National Roads Authority, the organisation charged with responsibility for the roads programme. We have reasons to doubt its competence. There has been up to 70 per cent over run on contracts. It has suffered heavy legal penalties for unfair contracting procedures. We see little effort to curtail runaway inflation in road building costs. There is considerable evidence of gauche relations with farmer victims of road works. As it operates can we have confidence in the NRA to efficiently and competently implement the road development programme? The bumbledum that retarded Irish society for 80 years should not prevail today. How do we implement change? The NRA must not become a road block within itself. The next threat to progress in the roads programme comes from the Cahir protest group associated with Joe Rea. This group genuinely holds that current road building proposals are over ambitious; the programme aims at traffic densities that may not arise for another 25-40 years. The group say that current traffic problems could be overcome through a combination of town by-passes, flyovers at major intersections and selective rebuilding along the existing roads system. A case for cost study may exist in certain less busy sectors of the main national routes. Let us treat this as genuine concerns for prudent public expenditure. It is a matter for discussion among concerned groups. Certainly the courts should not be used to resolve such issues. They are a very imperfect instrument and they feed the parasites of the legal fraternity. Already the legal collection box is provided for Cahir and the restrictive practices of the profession are in place. These guys are dangerous company for decent people. Another danger in the protest route comes from the camp followers. Already I see the Greens and the flat earth believers ready to jump on the protest bandwagon - groups that are inherently opposed to prosperity in the Irish community. Farming families have always sought the best way forward. Good
roads are part of that progress. Let us have careful examination of
costs with discussion on detail but let us not hold up the good
work. Certainly let us avoid feeding potage to the legal
parasites.
Paddy O'Keeffe Irish Farmer's Journal August 4th 2001
Note: bold
text not in original |
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