Irish Examiner view: Cork stories show we're all being held back by deficient infrastructure
The limited capacity of east Cork's road network — and no sign of the re-opening of the Midleton-Youghal rail line — are having a serious affect on commuters. Stock picture
The state of our national infrastructure is often cited as an obstacle to progress and development, but such commentary can often be generalised, lacking specific examples to bolster the argument.
This week, however, several such examples appeared almost simultaneously.
Sean O’Riordan reported on stories from various parts of Cork which illustrated precisely how flawed infrastructure is holding those areas back.
A recent meeting of Cork County Council heard fears about the capacity of the road network in east Cork — specifically the N25 — to cope with population growth in the area in the coming years.
Midleton is expected to double in size, while Carrigtwohill is on course for a population explosion of 169%.
However, councillors heard that upgrades of the road network were some years away, while any relief offered by a reopening of the Midleton-Youghal rail line is also in the distant future.
Further north in the county, the challenges are different. Councillors at the same meeting heard appeals for the improvement of infrastructure in Kiskeam after the rejection of recent planning applications because of problems with the local water supply.
This situation is mirrored nearer the city in the case of Carrignavar, where councillors heard that no new homes have been built in the core of the village for 18 years due to the lack of a proper sewerage treatment plant.
Obviously, these are separate issues, with some more visible than others. Traffic issues in east Cork are so ubiquitous that ‘Dunkettle interchange’ features almost every morning on the radio traffic news, and not in a positive way.
A couple of rejected planning applications may not seem as significant in comparison, but the resultant loss of two households may have a disproportionate impact on a small village.
Taken together, these examples do not just show particular challenges facing specific areas. They also represent the barriers to development many parts of the country are facing.
Finally, they also offer a warning — of the need for future-proofing the essential physical structures and facilities of the country. This must be done to ensure our future prosperity and progress, but if not now, when will we do so?
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The various challenges facing the health sector can often seem to numerous to count — this week alone we had the latest missed deadline for completion of the new National Children’s Hospital, for instance. It is not clear if that facility will even open later this year.
That fiasco was still in the headlines when yet another troubling story emerged. As reported here by Cianan Brennan, the HSE paid €306m to just five private companies for the provision of disability services in 2025.
Those companies are Nua Healthcare Services, Talbot Group, Resilience Healthcare, Galro, and Orchard Community Care. One of them, Nua Healthcare, was paid €128m, accounting for almost 45% of that spend. Those five companies were paid €129m in 2020, which means an increase in funding of 129% in just four years.
These are vast amounts of money flowing from the State coffers to private companies, and the situation raises two obvious questions.
Why are State services so deficient in this area that outside companies must be paid over €300m in one year to make up the shortfall? Recruitment and retention of staff are clearly challenges that are not being met by the HSE, going by this level of outsourcing.
The other question which must be asked centres on the implications of for-profit companies providing such important services for vulnerable people. Such companies will prioritise profits, naturally enough, but how will they determine the most profitable course of action for their organisations? By cutting some services?
The figures were released to Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide, who criticised their lack of specificity as well as the fact that it took six months to provide the information.
His description of disability healthcare provision as a “system that remains fragmented, reactive, crisis-driven” is difficult to argue with based on this evidence.
The whole country woke up with a sense of ‘what might have been’ yesterday, the disappointment of defeat in Prague on Thursday still fresh in the memory.
Some may wish to pick through the details of the Republic of Ireland’s defeat by Czechia, and the various stepping stones to defeat — from the penalty conceded by Ryan Manning in the first half to the Czech leveller just four minutes from full-time.
The penalty shoot-out was momentarily thrilling: When Caoimhín Kelleher made his trademark spot-kick save, all the associations with the heroics of 1990 came flooding back.
However, on this occasion, there was to be no David O’Leary figure burying the decisive spotter, and no George Hamilton on commentary duties shouting “Yes, we’re there”, at the very end.
For many Irish supporters the words of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson were a fair reflection of their feelings: “Just pain, we all feel pain. When you go this far it’s a flip of a coin. Just pain we feel being that close.”
Tuesday’s dead rubber, a home game against North Macedonia, seems an unnecessarily cruel way for the team to finish this campaign, but there is another way to view that fixture.
The players have given great enjoyment and excitement to the country in the last few months and deserve to be saluted for their efforts.
Where better to do that than at home?
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