Anyone else find the triple lock discussion both repetitive and vague? Like I'd like questions about specifics.
If say the EU wanted a force within Palestine but the US vetoed us how would people feel? If in Ukraine?
What about an invasion of Baltic EU members? Could we even assist? #speirgorm
There are literally 100s of flood relief schemes in place, and only a handful have been judicially reviewed. Enniscorthy hasn't even got planning permission but judicial review is being blamed for delay.
750 CPOs seems pretty high. Is that including all of the people that Irish Rail are acquiring the substratum rights for the retaining wall pins who will receive near 0 compensation as the depths are so deep?
They seriously think they can award that little to outsiders with no context on the problems that DB face or the data that they have. If so, I don’t know what to say other than spend that €15k on recruitment fees for new management. Innovation challenges can be great when well targeted. This 🤔 [2/2]
I’ll speak to the one suggestion area I know about. €15k on data management and visualisation is barely enough to do anything meaningful. You’ll get some orphaned and unmaintained system. Data and viz are an operational life system. They … [1/2]
There's an obvious next step here: identify examples of criminal conduct to date, and prosecute - as you would expect to happen if it were anyone else. Dismay doesn't cut it.
This is shocking loose, crude talk - something we expect the judiciary to be above
I’m gutted for all cyclists out there-we need more cycling for a safer calmer faster moving city
Judge O’ Donohoe should retract
If not, I think the Judicial Council must intervene
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...
There are some (rare) gems and there are a lot of head shakes. Lots of head shakes. Like I appreciate a positive world outlook. Mainly because climate crisis looks bleak. But ER is overly optimistic when it isn’t called for pretty often.
This is one of those scenarios where if all new data centres are using good time-based PPAs to fund renewable energy dev this is a positive.
Problem: there is no policy, strategy or funding in place to expect that this will happen, as opposed to new DCs using inefficient fossil gas generators.
The Simpsons really did predict everything
My brother in Christ, you're a cabinet minister who approved the National Development Plan which shelved DART+ South West until 2031
www.leinsterleader.ie/news/local-n...
It was hard to fully grasp but their logic but was almost those who choose to do a driving commute from Kildare to Dublin chose their pain.
It focused on a purely transport planing lens, long commutes are bad, and ignores wider cost of housing, family needs, distance to family support network etc
Same. The only part of my old commute that I miss is the amount of time for listening to podcasts.
As someone who now frequently works from home –thankfully – I do miss some of the time my brain got to wander while commuting.
A transition time I’m trying to recreate in a WFH situation.
But it’s wild have different a one hour commute by driving vs as a passenger on a train with a seat (and table) can be.
I know someone with a 1hr per direction train commute who writes little video games for their kids. Something they love doing. Can’t do that while driving 1 hour though.
I’ve met those in Dept Transport and the NTA who weren’t in favour of expanding quality rail to outer commuter locations, which they mean as Drogheda, Wicklow, Navan, Kildare because it would encourage unsustainable commute distances.
Totally oblivious to the thousands who already do this today.
These stories are soul destroying. So much lost personal time. So much stress and pain.
This government, which has failed deliver any meaningful public transport infra since 2017, could start building this upgrade to improve the quality of life of people like this.
But they aren’t doing it.
… near Huston to enable Irish Rail to improve frequency, speed and capacity of regional commuter train service to Naas, Newbridge, Kildare and intercity services to Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway.
It would also unlock the future possibility to expand DART to Sallins/Naas, or even Naas town.
Want to know what public transport infrastructure project is necessary to improve train services to Kildare?
It’s DART+ SW, which has full planning permission and could go to tender tomorrow. But no government funding until 2030.
It provides DART to Hazelhatch. But also provides more track space …
Four months after it was promised, we finally have the government's transport investment plan between now and 2030. It's bad. Roads are in, public transport is out. A lot of public transport projects being put on the long-finger to make funding available for new roads.
It’s such an odd article that buried the vital info. It leads with objections, then it’s 3km north west of Limerick City so no where near Shannon, then ends with the wind farm is proposed beside a vital aviation radar station. Well that seems like a reasonable concern
I hope there was a more detailed report with that presentation. Is this 9 reports of 100e unreported or one person with 800e and multiple tiny transactions? What was the sampling rate? It’s like they know they need to audit but then it’s just vague we should investigate improving policies etc
It’s an odd piece. The first half about using machine learning and image processing to help with environmental monitoring has nothing to do with the second half about generative AI and its hungry power demands.
Image processing, even with additional machine learning, has extremely low power usage.
My outsider perspective is that everyone is playing their part and playing it well and yet we struggle to get good projects through the overly complex process.
Either we need a simpler process or better tools for creating/analysing various application types to avoid human error.
/rant2
Also don’t want to just dunk on this article - it’s pretty misleading use of stats may have triggered me.
There have been many articles like this from applicants, planners, legal professionals about the merits and ills of JRs that are all so siloed in their viewpoint.
But we must also discuss that:
* JRs take too long. Under resourced courts?
* when issues are identified we go back to the start of the multi-year process far too frequently. Can we have more checkpoints?
* simplify the planning processes to make them easier to follow?
/rant
Yes I want the law followed. Yes JRs are a vital part of democracy and protecting legal rights.
I hate how the government is trying to close off JRs by limiting access to justice or changing the costs of taking JRs.
It’s anti-democratic.
Greater Dublin Drainage, now on its second J.R., almost ten years later is vital infrastructure. We need to build it.
The first JR succeeded because ABP didn’t ask the EPA about the treated water discharge. Turns out EPA were fine with it – see the second application process now subject to a new JR
Anyone who thinks projects this complex, with a highly qualified applicant team and inspector team isn’t going to make some procedural mistake in the three year deliberation process is conning themselves.
The process is complex. We keep making it more complex. Humans do make mistakes.
… railway order applications in the last decade. The planning rules are constantly changing both nationally and at the EU level.
They weren’t both super confident on what needs to go into the Railway Order decision document as there have been so few.
One the first day of the MetroLink oral hearings TII, the applicant, and the ABP inspector, both discussed how they had both created their own consolidated version of the various acts related to granting railway orders. They then shared notes with each other. This is because there have been so few…
