€240m road cutbacks are ‘folly’ when road building has never been cheaper – O’Dowd

[Fine Gael]

Fine Gael Transport Spokesman Fergus O'Dowd has described the €240 million cuts in the 2009 National Roads Programme as lunacy.
Deputy O'Dowd said that with the cost of road building at its cheapest for years and the economy crying out for capital investment, the Government should be ramping up labour-intensive road building projects.


"With the cost of building new roads at its cheapest for years, Noel Dempsey should be doubling the National Roads Programme for 2009. Yet the Minister has confirmed that this year's roads budget has been slashed by €240 million. This is utter folly.


"The Minister has confirmed that the motorway scheme is effectively at an end. Only one new road project will get underway this year. All other projects currently underway are entering their final stages. In effect, the roads building programme is being wound down.

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[alonso]

build some bloody railways O'Doofus!!!!
typical cr4p opposition - wed ourselves even more to car dependency!!!

[John_C]

The Greens strike again!

[juanpablo]

Built too many roads in the first place, now every two bit town thinks it should get a motorway to its doorstep. Then Public Transport gets cut! O Dowd you fool do you have any cop on?

[cyberianpan]

Fine Gael Transport Spokesman Fergus O'Dowd has described the €240 million cuts in the 2009 National Roads Programme as lunacy.
Deputy O'Dowd said that with the cost of road building at its cheapest for years and the economy crying out for capital investment, the Government should be ramping up labour-intensive road building projects.


"With the cost of building new roads at its cheapest for years, Noel Dempsey should be doubling the National Roads Programme for 2009. Yet the Minister has confirmed that this year's roads budget has been slashed by €240 million. This is utter folly.


"The Minister has confirmed that the motorway scheme is effectively at an end. Only one new road project will get underway this year. All other projects currently underway are entering their final stages. In effect, the roads building programme is being wound down.

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O'Dowd is like the hungry tramp window shopping at the Brown Thomas sales:

"Armani suits are only €500, I must get Simon to buy them for me"

"Roads are only xxx, I must get the IMF to buy them for me"

cYp

[Pax]

We're cutting public transport because CIE is loosing a paltry 30 million this year and yet FG are bleating about €240 million cuts in our already bloated road building programme?
Unbelievable.

These new roads will be filled within a few years and we'll have to continue the pyramid scheme supporting private transport again and again.

Of course we always hear the non-joined-up thinking that public transport, public enterprises, must be profitable (despite paying for themselves through carbon emission cuts and traffic congestion cuts) and yet....do the roads pay for themselves?

[goosebump]

Fine Gael Transport Spokesman Fergus O'Dowd has described the €240 million cuts in the 2009 National Roads Programme as lunacy.
Deputy O'Dowd said that with the cost of road building at its cheapest for years and the economy crying out for capital investment, the Government should be ramping up labour-intensive road building projects.


"With the cost of building new roads at its cheapest for years, Noel Dempsey should be doubling the National Roads Programme for 2009. Yet the Minister has confirmed that this year's roads budget has been slashed by €240 million. This is utter folly.


"The Minister has confirmed that the motorway scheme is effectively at an end. Only one new road project will get underway this year. All other projects currently underway are entering their final stages. In effect, the roads building programme is being wound down.

More from FineGael.ie

I'm sure the Bertie Bowl could probably be built for a song now too; does Fergus think we should crack on with that?

FG would appear to think that we should be spending money we don't have just because we think something is cheap. Its called the 'Lidl Syndrome'.

[jfk2008]

I'm sure the Bertie Bowl could probably be built for a song now too; does Fergus think we should crack on with that?

FG would appear to think that we should be spending money we don't have just because we think something is cheap. Its called the 'Lidl Syndrome'.

Neither you nor the government appear to have heard of Keynesian economics.

[goosebump]

Neither you nor the government appear to have heard of Keynesian economics.

I have.

The fact that a theory of economics exists does not mean that it is applicable to every situation or that it will work.

There is a general acceptance that Keynesian inspired stimuli are only appropriate in less-open economies that are not export led.

Economic growth in Ireland is a function of international trade and comparative productivity, not domestic demand.

There is further agreement that the effectiveness of Keynesian inspired stimuli is greatly diminished by globalisation, to the extent that there is little evidence of Keynesian policy making in the late 20th century.

The fact the the UK and US are talking about such stimulii does not mean that they will work. In the modern age, economic stimuli are as much political tools as they are economic tools, in that they are more palatable to voters than spending cuts.

[jfk2008]

You can't simply dismiss domestic demand as a factor in economic growth in Ireland.

€240 million is a relatively small amount which would go a long way towards improving our dire roads system and help to improve productivity and competitiveness.