The Wren Report

Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. As it turns out is not just a fantastic line from 1939’s Gone with the Wind, it also seems to be the mantra of 20 Ranelagh residents who have filed for a judicial review of the project.

These Ranelagh residents who already live in one of the most connected, walkable, beautiful areas of Dublin would like to remind the rest of us just who runs the show in this country. If you’re wondering, it isn’t you or me.

Never mind they already have a LUAS, frequent buses, cycling networks and are nothing more than a gentle stroll into the centre of the city, the rest of us must be minded not to inconvenience them. It’s the perfect encapsulation of a culture that has been spreading not just across Ireland, but the whole world. The rotten core of ‘I’m Alright Jack’.

I’ve got mine, and if you haven’t, tough luck.

The residents challenging Metrolink don’t need the project. That’s the point. They are insulated from its absence, can afford taxis, a nice car. They have something that those of us who are desperate for this project to advance don’t have.

Options.

Dublin needs Metrolink. Not in ten years’ time, now. The project has been through years of consultation, planning, hearings, and scrutiny. It is one of the most thoroughly examined infrastructure projects in the history of the State. To delay further is a betrayal of everyone who is relying on Metrolink.

Our transport system is miles behind comparable European cities. Congestion is chronic and it’s getting worse. Housing supply is squeezed beyond belief, port tunnel prices continue to rise and Drumcondra traffic is getting to the point where you could leave your car and walk into town faster than driving in. We are past the point of this not being sustainable.

Allowing people, whose mindset on infrastructure can be boiled down to “if it inconveniences me even slightly, then society can wait” to essentially decide what projects move forward, is not only nonsensical, it is indicative of a state that refuses to do its job.

Has political bravery abandoned us?

Being right and being unpopular sometimes have to go hand in hand, it’s a lesson our politicians seem to have forgotten. When one of the most consequential transport projects in the state can be stalled by 20 people, our politicians should have no choice but to re-learn that lesson.

Metrolink’s costs have ballooned, and every delay adds millions more. The people driving this latest delay won’t pay a cent of it. You and I will.

Our taxes will have to cover the cost of these delays. Delays instigated by a group from an area that has benefitted enormously from infrastructure that they wish to deny the rest of us. The hypocrisy would be laughable, if it wasn’t so frustrating.

Young people are feeling this frustration more than most. The statistics show that we are the ones most reliant on public transport. Is it not enough that house prices are out of touch (just look at the listings in Ranelagh), that car insurance costs are out of control, and the social contract is shattered. Can we just have reliable public transport, is it too much to ask for?

Unfortunately, it seems to be.

Ultimately, infrastructure determines who has access to opportunity. Metrolink would unlock new housing developments, reduce commuting times, and create jobs. The blocking and delaying of the project will do nothing more than further entrench the existing inequalities, between a generation who has faced a broken social contract, and those who broke it.

For younger generations, this delay is another hit in a long chain of decisions that have prioritised the comfort of established groups over the needs of everyone else. It is infuriating to see people who enjoyed the last wave of public investment in infrastructure, blocking the next one, and leaving us the bill for good measure.

A modern capital city cannot function if every major decision is filtered through the preferences of those who already have what everyone else is waiting for. It is welcome that government look prepared to give changing legislation a go, but in truth the ‘I’m Alright Jack’ model has dominated Irish planning for years, and it won’t be easy to change.

If there is an opportunity for change, Metrolink is the project to do it. It is simple, we either build for the next generation or we admit that the State’s role is to ensure the comfort of the well off.