{"id":418,"date":"2018-02-16T16:52:34","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T16:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/opinion-stop-announcing-start-building\/"},"modified":"2023-09-14T15:33:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T14:33:23","slug":"opinion-stop-announcing-start-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/opinion-stop-announcing-start-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Stop announcing, start building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"5bbf\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h3\">Ireland 2040 is the government\u2019s plan for capital development across the country, and has just been launched.<\/p>\n<p id=\"549d\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">There\u2019s good and bad news for Dublin 15.<\/p>\n<p id=\"d686\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The good news is that the DART upgrade for the Maynooth train line has been announced again (fourth time by my count).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"8678\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--layoutOutsetLeft graf-after--p\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked\">\n<div class=\"progressiveMedia js-progressiveMedia graf-image is-canvasLoaded is-imageLoaded\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/15o9F4w-REVm587OSQNF5gg.jpeg\" width=\"389\" height=\"207\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"8794\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--figure\">The expansion of the DART to Maynooth has been in discussion in one way or another since 1975. It has been announced at least three times since then, and now it is being \u2018launched\u2019 yet again. Stop announcing it and start building it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ca86\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">All the new investment in mass transit infrastructure in recent years has left West Dublin behind. The new plan announced today somehow justifies yet another line into the south side when commuters in Dublin 15 are still waiting for a train that\u2019s 40 years delayed.<\/p>\n<p id=\"a3b1\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The most frustrating thing is that everything new that\u2019s been announced goes via town.<\/p>\n<p id=\"f016\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">If we keep running buses and trains into the city centre and out again, not only are we wasting time and money on our commute, but we stifle development potential outside the M50.<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/1sv5n1FagJWY7hqb7A5vmaw.png\" width=\"413\" height=\"256\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The quickest public transport route from Blanchardstown to Liffey Valley shopping centre goes through Smithfield.<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The 5km journey from Lucan to Blanchardstown is served by one direct bus route, only eleven times a day which means it\u2019s mostly faster to take an 18 km detour through Smithfield. For the vast majority of commuters the only way to move around the outer suburbs is to go through town, which is crazy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"34c9\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">So, I\u2019m not really surprised, but very disappointed that the government has doubled down on the backwards system of hub and spoke, when we should be moving towards a more efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly public transport system for the whole city and country.<\/p>\n<p id=\"f7d8\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AengusOMaolain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">Aengus \u00d3 Maol\u00e1in is chairperson of the Dublin West Social Democrats and the party\u2019s representative for Castleknock and Blanchardstown.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This piece originally appeared in Medium.com and can be read <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@AengusOMaolain\/stop-announcing-start-building-17b3a4f132f3\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ireland 2040 is the government\u2019s plan for capital development across the country, and has just been launched. There\u2019s good and bad news for Dublin 15. The good news is that the DART upgrade for the Maynooth train line has been announced again (fourth time by my count). The expansion of the DART to Maynooth has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Opinion: Stop announcing, start building - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/opinion-stop-announcing-start-building\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion: Stop announcing, start building - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ireland 2040 is the government\u2019s plan for capital development across the country, and has just been launched. 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