Farm staff move is a ploy to fool town

I WAS amused recently to read of Cork county politicians calling for 110 jobs to be moved from Model Farm Road in the city to Macroom under the guise of the so-called Government decentralisation scheme.

And I was amazed at how few city politicians came out publicly against such a foolish and costly move.

While the benefits of moving some government jobs from a top-heavy Dublin to the regions would make sense — and we in Cork would welcome some of those decentralised jobs for the city — I believe the proposal to relocate the Department of Agriculture from Cork to Macroom is nothing more than a ploy to fool the people of that town into thinking that they would benefit in some way.

The facts are that many of the Department of Agriculture staff located on the Model Farm Road live in the area and walk to and from work.

Relocation would have the effect of putting dozens of extra cars on the road to Macroom to transport the staff to and fro; it would also place an intolerable burden on the workers and customers who currently avail of the facility in the city.

The move might provide some business for the traders of Macroom in that the odd pint of milk, a newspaper or a tank of fuel would be purchased by the discommoded workers if they were caught short.

However, if the smoke-and-mirrors illusion of decentralisation in this instance is held up to scrutiny it becomes apparent that the true reason for this disgraceful proposal to shed jobs from the Bishopstown area of the city is to appease voters in Macroom, and of course it would free up 10 acres of land on Model Farm Road that could be used/developed to add to the country’s impressive list of property speculator multi-millionaires.

Thankfully, the era of ‘Welcome to Parlon Country’ politics we had to endure for so many years may at last be coming to an end.

Michael Murphy

Hilltop

Model Farm Road

Cork