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‘transversal’ links running in an West-East direction linking potentially all parts of Ireland to the
Eastern corridor within a 40 minute travel time.
Based on a strong linear urban corridor along the East coast, all of the population centres in the
remainder of Ireland could have a shorter travel distance from a city that forms part of this
corridor than currently achieved in relation to Dublin. It would require transversal connections.
Instead of attempting to shorten travel times from gateway cities in the West of Ireland to
Dublin by improving the radial transport network, transversal infrastructure links would be
developed that result in a 40 minute travel time to the corridor. For example: Sligo to Dundalk,
Cork to Waterford and so on.
There is also a serious concern that planning policies that ‘fight trends’ are often doomed to
fail. It is plausible, for example, to suggest that a continued policy to support urban growth that
is based on the Balanced Regional Development argument (counterweight to Dublin) carries a
degree of risk if it fails. For a start, the political support to divert resources from the East to the
West that is seemingly taken for granted, may not always continue in the future. It takes
approximately ten years before changed population patterns are reflected in voting patterns. An
increased political concentration of voters towards the Eastern urban corridor is likely to result
from current population growth patterns (Box 1). A significant shift of population from a rural
based Ireland to an urban based Ireland will therefore more than likely result in different
loyalties and priorities. Also, there may be dwindling political support for policies that prevent
successful urban centres growing where such growth initiatives are contrary to official NSS
policies. As so often shown in the past, planning policies that have the effect to frustrate
entrepreneurial activity are usually doomed to fail in the long run. In a sense it could be said
that the gateway policy in the NSS has concentrated on the ‘weak pupils in the class’ thereby
reducing the rate of return on public investment. Of all the counties, between 2002 and 2006
the counties that grew fastest were the counties without gateways and counties with gateways
grew slowest (Box 2).
Box 1 - The Constituency ‘Time Bomb’
Despite the GDA’s (Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow) 2006 census population share of 39.2%
of State, both the main political parties’ first preference regional vote in the recent General
Election reflect a markedly lower share: Fianna Fail obtained 34.5% and Fine Gael got only
28.2%. Such level of support reflects their rural-centricity focus of strategic policies; for parties
that have never espoused the cause of cities, especially that of Dublin. The 2006 census also
confirmed that two Dublin constituencies had breached the 30,000 upper population limit.
Furthermore, the GDA as a whole is underrepresented in the number of TDs. Consequently,
there is an in-built time lag of 5 to 10 years before population growth is reflected in like
parliamentary representation. Inevitably, this will likely result in a sea change with a sudden
‘flip’ towards urban-infused values.
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