Category: People Column

People Column

Burning of Oil to be banned

We here at the People like to bring you the news first, like any other newspaper, so I’m glad to be bringing you the above headline news as I haven’t read it elsewhere.

Of course, from a starting point of now it might look that I am stark raving mad. The world is addicted to oil and we here in Ireland are particularly dependent on imported fuels.

What is important is, even if you don’t believe it, that you tuck the headline away somewhere in your mind and then it won’t be such a shock when reality hits further down the line.

When I say oil, I mean fossil fuels including coal and gas. The truth is that the earth cannot sustain the burning of fossil fuels without undergoing some permanent climate change. As we humans have designed our existence around the environment we live in, any major changes will be very painful.

Dublin has recent experience of coming to terms with the damage caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The ban on the sale of coal in 1990 transformed the air quality in the city and the change went down well with the populace. 

Of course, the alternative fuel then was natural gas which is a much superior fuel for heating houses through central heating. 

The buzz fuel of the moment is wood pellets which works out at half the price of oil. But the transport costs of delivering this type of fuel or bio-oils, would in itself be a bit of an environmental disaster, especially in Dublin where it would be replacing a very green gas network. 

The alternative is to heat homes with electricity which is (as yet) pretty expensive and not very responsive in my experience. However many, if not most, new apartment buildings in Dublin have some form of electrical storage heating.

Secondly, the world is going to change over to electric powered cars in the next ten to twenty years. The success of hybrid cars is already showing people that there is not just one way of doing things. More and more hybrids will come on the scene and the natural next step is to allow motorists to plug them in at home. Enthusiasts have hacked the Toyota Prius in California to do just this and are driving around only resorting to the petrol engine on long journeys.

The end of oil is coming and you need to start thinking about it because as soon as politicians know that voters accept that cheap oil is gone they can start to hasten its finale demise.

It can’t come too soon.

Fuel is too cheap

All right, so I hate popularity. The thing is that I think that it’s good that fuel prices are going up. 

I know that these increases hit the poorest harder and I welcome the fact the welfare increases have been announced to compensate.

The fact is that fuel is too cheap and too easy to waste. I haven’t the slightest doubt that the average household could reduce the use of electricty by 20 per cent if they want to. You don’t have to pay more for your electricity – just use less of it!

I wonder if the rise will have any effect on the coming Christmas light blitz. I’ll bet not.

People Column

Everyone wants a semi-d

The population statistics are in for the 2006 census and they show that Dublin is in relative decline. While the rest of the country grew at 8.1 per cent, Co Dublin could only manage 5.6 per cent.

And I say County Dublin because much of Dublin’s growth took place outside the city, particularly in Fingal.

Dublin City added 10,000 people over the four years from 2002 to 2006 while Fingal added 43,000. Parts of the city are actually in decline. 

Isn’t that incredible? Given all the problems we have with traffic, we are still building a low-rise city dependent on cars. Areas where you could practically walk to the city centre, like Cabra and Clontarf have falling populations.

Meanwhile Meath and Kildare are experiencing huge jumps in populations. Everybody, it seems, wants to live in a semi-detached house. The rebirth of urban Dublin is a myth. 

The southside has obviously decided to put up the shutters and not let anyone else in. The Dun Laoghaire constituency has dropped by two per cent in population. It can’t be that developers don’t want to build houses there because they are worth a fortune.

Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council must have questions to answer about why, at the time of record population growth in the State, young people are being forced to move further down the coast. Meanwhile they’re building new facilities for birds in Blackrock. 

I wonder if there isn’t another phenomenon going on here. I know of quite a few people who left Dublin in order to buy a house in the commuter belt and then rent out their old one. In this arrangement your new house is practically free. 

The message from the census is that there needs to be some overall vision for Dublin. A city is not working if it is not attracting people to live in it.

For too many people Dublin is just a destination, a place to work or shop. But not their home. This has to change.

Fair at last

For the first time in a generation Dublin will now have fair representation in the Dail. The county is entitled to 46.5 seats, based on the 2006 census, and will have 47.

Most of Dublin’s 12 constituencies have normal representation but two, Dublin North and Dublin West, are seriously under-represented. In fact, Dublin West has breached the limit set in the constitution of 30,000 people per seat.

This will have to change. But if there is a new commission don’t be surprised if there is pressure for wholesale change. Where did all these three-seaters on the Northside come from? Very handy for keeping out contrary smaller parties.

Northside swing

While Dublin now has the right number of seats, the balance between northside and southside has shifted.

The result is that north of the Liffey is entitled to one of the southside’s seats. The current split is 20 on the northside and 27 on the southside. It should be 21/26.

Given that Fianna Fail is stronger north of the river, don’t be surprised if there is a little swap.