Irish Examiner view: M20 delay will be a roadblock to regional development

Proposed upgrade has been awaited for decades

It was confirmed this week that Noel and Liam Gallagher have finally made their peace and are to tour with Oasis next year.

The proposed upgrade of the M20, the main Cork-Limerick road, has been awaited for decades, with generations of drivers embittered by traffic tailbacks in the likes of Buttevant and Charleville.

Late last year, there appeared to be some light on the horizon when details of the upgrade were announced; a positive step after the unveiling of the preferred travel corridor in March 2022.

The largest single active travel project proposed in Ireland, it is also the country’s first multi-modal transport scheme.

Now, however, a lack of funding means the project appears to have ground to a halt once again. The chief executive of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) told this newspaper: “There is a difficulty with the [roads project] pipeline at the moment. The second half of the National Development Plan from 2026 to 2030 has a very ambitious programme but
currently our pipeline is very lean. We have only two schemes with An Bord Pleanála — Galway City and Slane.”

It would be a gross understatement to describe this as disappointing, particularly when considering the level of detail shared about the project last year.

This is not the first time the TII has pleaded a lack of funding when it comes to projects in the Cork area either. Readers may recall the anger of county councillors in Cork recently when TII said it did not have the funding to carry out projects it had promised to finance. The specific project involved was improving the N72 in north Cork, a road which locals claim has not been tarred properly for 30 years.

These delays are likely to remind many in the deep south of other long-postponed developments such as the Cork Event Centre, a project which has not progressed in seven years.

A delay in upgrading the Cork-Limerick road has implications for the entire southern region, however. Such delays are a serious obstacle to development in the area and present a problem which must be solved.

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Concern about farmer's mental health 

A survey run by University College Dublin (UCD) has produced startling revelations about Irish farmers’ mental health.

The survey, which involved over 450 farmers, found more than one in five were considered at risk for dying by suicide and that 82% knew someone who had died by suicide.

Some separate analysis was equally shocking, finding that twice as many male farmers aged over 65 died by probable suicide than men of the same age not involved in farming.

These statistics are grim in and of themselves, but the researchers also drilled into the particular circumstances of farming which may be contributing factor. For instance, the fact that many farmers spend considerable amounts of time working their own is not always conducive to good mental health, with one contributor to the surveyor describing the possibilities vividly.

“Land gets in the lad’s mind, like,” said the farmer. “On his own all day and thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about, it he’s just going to snap at some stage. Whether it’s the snap on his own or kill someone else and kill himself afterwards.”

It was also instructive to learn how farmers feel they are regarded. Some farmers who see themselves as caretakers of the land now feel disenfranchised by climate policies, while some also feel that outsiders did not understand the nature of farming.

The latter assertion in particular would astound previous generations of Irish people, who were far more familiar with the realities of farming than their modern counterparts. According to the CSO, when Ireland joined the then European Economic Community in 1973, one quarter of the workforce was engaged in agriculture — by 2022 that was down to just 4%. On that basis alone, it is easy to see why there is a lack of understanding among the population of the stresses involved in farming.

This survey shows those stresses are very real. The work being done by UCD — and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and FBD Trust — to help farmers deal with these problems deserves every support.

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Oasis reunion sparks nostalgia trip

It was confirmed this week that Noel and Liam Gallagher have finally made their peace and are to tour with Oasis next year. The names alone are probably enough to bathe many readers in a warm 90s-tinged glow this week.

The glow may last a little longer than the week, come to that.

A spike in bucket hat sales and a revival in unfortunate mod-style haircuts can be expected in the months leading to the concerts next August in Croke Park, Dublin; so can an outbreak of nostalgia for the summers of 30 years ago which Oasis soundtracked. Expect a very different demographic to the turnout for Taylor Swift earlier this year in the Aviva.

Comparisons are already being made with the gigs Oasis played in Ireland in the 90s, and not all of them show this year in a favourable light. It was depressing to see Dublin hotel room prices spike immediately for the dates of next year’s Oasis concerts, for instance. If such gouging occurred three decades ago it surely did not showcase the shameless opportunism we see now.

One word of warning for fans hoping to secure tickets online this Saturday morning. Given the Gallaghers’ relationship, they may be well advised to avail of ticket cancellation insurance from Ticketmaster.

Or they may end up looking back in anger.