Changed times call for revision

REARVIEW:WHEN THE next Government gets behind their desks, it might be timely to address one of the commitments made in better economic times: to provide €480 million towards the upgrade of the A5 between Aughnacloy and Derry.

Supporters cite many strategic reasons for it, not least improving access to the much-neglected northwest. This is admirable. But the commitment was made in very different times, in the wake of the Belfast Agreement when everyone was eager to extend the hand of co-operation.

One suspects there may also have been an element – like the Irish developers snapping up trophy properties in London – of braggadocio to our largesse.

Now that we’d come down to earth and are foundering in the worst financial crisis in the history of the State, it looks a foolhardy pledge. Is it really fair that Irish taxpayers, facing into years of harsh austerity measures, be asked to pay for road projects in another jurisdiction?

We have been saddled with a €85 billion bailout from the EU-IMF, some €8 billion of which is coming from London. In essence, we are borrowing money from our neighbours – at not inconsiderable interest – just to give it back so they can build a road. This is madness.

While we’re at it, why not build a tunnel from Holyhead to Dublin Port so our British cousins can come over in their hordes to point and laugh at us?

The next Government should review this – and many other aspirational transport projects. It will hurt Irish pride to have to tell our former colonial masters the money is no longer forthcoming. But needs must. In times like these, our priorities lie elsewhere.