4million Euro to help 7 families????

silverharp

Reading an article in the Irish times today that 4m euro will be spent on coastal erosion on Inishbofin that will help 7 families. One would think that there are several villages or towns around the country where this money could be better spent, or does anything go in an election year.

oscarBravo

If it was your house that was in danger of falling into the Atlantic, what would you consider a better way of spending the money?

Time Magazine

A new house in Athlone?

oscarBravo

In winter, that's approximately the same as your house falling into the Atlantic. Except without the scenery.

walrusgumble

ha , especially around the rural areas of the shannon callows.

ballooba

€4 million is peanuts to keep the island folk away.

InFront

Which Inishbofin was that? Both of them are pretty significant from a tourism/ cultural point of view. Robert Graves the senior once called Ireland's islands its crown jewels, he was probably correct.
Coastal erosion funding isn't limited to Inishbofin. 4 million is exactly the figure being sought in Kerry for the site of that famous viewpoint across Dingle Bay being eroded at the moment.

lostexpectation

the 4 million defences won't last very long, if it goes it goes, alot of progrmas like coast and docu on coastal erosion have woken me up to the fact the coasts are suppose to drastically change over time.

InFront

Coastal erosion is ultimately 'inevitable', but if you engineer appropriate barriers you can manage it. Yes it's not going to last forever, but I think that so long as it's affordable, the government should aim to preserve island life as part of its cultural heritage.

They should also be careful of where they let people built their houses and holiday homes, of course.

Crash

These particular houses, if i remember correctly (its inishbofin off galway i think) have been there for a long long time - none of them are recent builds and it affects an entire strip including one of the main roads of the island...I think the main road issue would be much bigger than the houses IMO.

Judt

4 million does sound like a lot for 7 houses, but do add it up for me; if we're earning 5 million out of the fact that the people in these houses run a successful tourism industry, grand. If not, bugger off. But always make sure to add up all the sums, not just the money you're paying in the here and now.

flogen

Judt wrote:

4 million does sound like a lot for 7 houses, but do add it up for me; if we're earning 5 million out of the fact that the people in these houses run a successful tourism industry, grand. If not, bugger off. But always make sure to add up all the sums, not just the money you're paying in the here and now.

Well it would only be fair, if using that fairly straight-out capitalist system, to consider the income earned by the existence of these houses (and the coast as it currently stands) over the same period of time that this €4 million investment will protect said coast.
I'd be pretty sure that working from that perspective, yes, the long-term gain is greater than the short-term cost... but that said I don't give really give a fúck if it earns less than €4 over the next 100 years - an attitude that we should only preserve what is profitable is a mighty depressing one to me.

ballooba

flogen wrote:

an attitude that we should only preserve what is profitable is a mighty depressing one to me.

I have to agree with that sentiment.

When you consider the "natural wastage" we are told to expect from government spending, this €4 million is buttons. This represents a fraction of the amount wasted on projects like eVoting, PPARS, Thornton Hall, etc.

The costs of infrastructural projects for the benefit of citizens of Dublin often run into the Billions e.g. Luas, Port Tunnel, Metro, etc. I'm not going to begrudge the people of Inishbofin this small bit of investment.

The repopulation of Árainn Mhór has shown the value of the islands to this country. I think you will find that the spend on that particular island is in line with if not greater than that of Inishbofin.

Judt

We're only protecting that which shouldn't exist, according to natures grand scheme... coastal erosion is hardly an unforeseeable event, just like building houses on a flood plain is not the best way to keep the insurance man happy. It's the people inside I'd care about - they're not going to get insurance money, and we're a welfare state, so if it costs more than 4 million to rehouse these people then get out the tools lads, we have a cliff to preserve.

If it costs less than 4 million to just up these people to somewhere that'll still be there in 100 years (and remember, coastal erosion will happen eventually, unless we put in another 4 million and another 4 million and another 4 million as time wears on), then move them. We're losing a few houses. Say you save 1 or 2 million by leaving them... how many garda, or buses, or hospital beds does that money buy me? The impact of having seven houses dangling on the edge of a cliff is less on the day-to-day life of your average Irish citizen and taxpayer than how many cops are roaming our streets.

If this were some monument of national importance, say the GPO, then it's worth the money, but for a bunch of houses dangling off the edge of a cliff? If it costs more to keep them there than move them, I say let nature do her stuff.

walrusgumble

ye fair play to ya, well done. if da dubs get all the attention, surely ye wont begrude a couple of million to slow down the coastal erosion.ya know these islanders have the same constitutional rights as us mainlanders


these people have strong links to these islands. their ancestors etc lived on the island for along time. you cant just flash the cheque book and simply say, right lets move ye out to the mainland

silverharp

walrusgumble wrote:

ye fair play to ya, well done. if da dubs get all the attention, surely ye wont begrude a couple of million to slow down the coastal erosion.ya know these islanders have the same constitutional rights as us mainlanders


these people have strong links to these islands. their ancestors etc lived on the island for along time. you cant just flash the cheque book and simply say, right lets move ye out to the mainland

its a matter of priorities though, and I don't think the whole Island is going into the sea, I was there last year and the place seemed to be full of empty second homes so the people that love their land so much were obviously happy enough to sell to outsiders for the right price.

I did put it out as a question though, if it is part of a bigger strategy for the Island then fine, but if the scheme is more to do parish pump politics then it is a complete waste of money

Sponge Bob

Thats 1/6 of the entire Coastal protection budget in the NDP between now and 2013 ye will be glad to hear. There is only €23m in total .

Details of coastal protection grants paid to local authorities by county for 2004 and 2005 and the amounts approved by county for 2006 are set out in the table. These amounts include a 25% contribution from the local authorities.

County 	2004 Total Cost 	2005 Total Cost 	2006 Total Approved
	€ 	€ 	€
Louth 	328,563.30 	117,098.36 	169,000.00
Meath 	40,000.00 	0 	124,000.00
Dublin 	66,792.00 	435,630.00 	637,975.00
Wicklow 	70,000.00 	226,028.53 	153,113.00
Wexford 	532,313.33 	56,009.67 	950,000.00
Waterford 	94,537.01 	116,425.79 	975,000.00
Cork 	696,383.06 	508,595.20 	275,000.00
Kerry 	273,843.72 	170,520.63 	188,000.00
Galway 	193,243.82 	432,930.55 	0
Mayo 	0 	100,000.00 	100,000.00
Clare 	0 	190,960.00 	0
Sligo 	0 	56,924.55 	0
Donegal 	0 	616,000.00 	104,500.00
Totals 	2,295,708.84 	3,027,123.28 	3,676,588.00

Only €3.6m was spent nationally on coastal protection last year and county Galway only got .2m of that .

Local authorities funded .9m of that 3.6m as well so central government spent €2.7m all last year nationally and propose to spend under €4m a year for the next 6 years in the NDP , if you think thats lot then read this .

They spend as much annually on Methadone in Dublin 1 alone and nobody is proposing they be washed away either.

We had a stormy winter so **** happens . Fix it.

Victor

Sponge Bob wrote:

They spend as much annually on Methadone in Dublin 1 alone and nobody is proposing they be washed away either.

In fairness that affects several thousand people.

InFront

Judt wrote:

We're only protecting that which shouldn't exist, according to natures grand scheme...

Not arguing with everything you say today I promise, but nature is being helped out here. Coastal erosion is influenced by how we treat our environment - both directly by human activity on the islands, and by our greater relationship with pollution and the rise in sea levels, so it isn't completely natural.

Inevitably, you're right, this is going to happen. But it would be wrong to say we haven't influenced it.