The Republic has always had a problem getting its infrastructure right. The motorways built in the last decade were actually part of a series of national development plans (remember them?) that date back to the mid-1990s and are still largely unfulfilled.
In the capital, the spaghetti junction at the Red Cow and the years it took to develop the Port Tunnel are reminders of just how we allow ourselves to fall behind when it comes to transport systems that most other countries seem to take for granted.
It’s no real suprise then that we are still transporting aviation fuel between Dublin’s port and airport by truck, rather than by pipeline, which is what happens in most other European countries.
This week, Independent Pipeline confirmed that it is going to seek planning permission for a 20km link that will pump aviation fuel from a depot at Dublin port to the airport. It is not the first application.
In 2001, one of the company’s backers, Fingleton White, was granted permission for a pipeline, albeit over a different route, but had to shelve the project following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York, which sent the aviation industry into recession.
You could argue that this is vital infrastructure and that the plan should have gone ahead anyway. However, as it was backed with private money, those involved were not willing to take the risk of investing millions in supplying an industry that was shrinking rapidly and which looked like it was going to take a long time to recover.
We are now back with a different version of the plan, backed by the same people, Fingleton White, and its partner, Reynolds Logistics. They re-examined the proposal in 2005 and 2006 and decided on a bigger-diameter pipe and other changes. They also commissioned safety reports and environmental impact studies, presumably with an eye on having as much information as humanly possible ready for their planning application.
Pretty soon, two local authorities, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, will get to decide on where the project goes from here, which is more or less the same thing as saying that it is now in the lap of the gods.