Sir, - Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, January 7th) and the article on the facing page by Tom Coffey - both analysing the politics of traffic management - draw attention to the lack of representation of the views and needs of the public by our elected representatives. Expediency and response to lobbyists have characterised many of the performances we have witnessed in Government over the last several years. Many good Ministers have been tainted by their lack of ability to cut through bureaucracy with clear sighted decision-making.
Galway is allegedly the fastest-expanding city in Europe, but our bus service has been stationary for decades.The "suburb" in which I live has an outward bus service only until 6 p.m. on weekdays (on Sundays there is one bus at 3 p.m.). When a colleague who lives in a town 25 miles to the north enquired from Bus Eireann why no bus could get him to Galway in time for work, he was told that if one was supplied it would be overcrowded! We have had a frightening increase in road accident deaths last year but no legislation to make cars safer, poor maintainence of roads and little enforcement of existing laws. If there is insufficient transport for the public at night and insufficient police, the answer seems self-evident: allow the provision of more. The truth is that there has been and is still no national policy for public transport. Our economy has blossomed, thanks in large part to EC funding and advantageous taxation. Instead of frittering the dividend away, as our neighbours in the UK did, our representatives must capitalise and reinvest for the lean times. But Ministers have been too slow to decide policy and instruct their Departments to implement it on our behalf. Democracy, rather than politics, please. - Yours, etc.,
From Dr David O'Keeffe
Barna, Galway.