"Green" policies are destroying this country

Sigh, at the risk of repeating myself, there is no need for more urban sprawl in Galway city when there is so much land available for development already, as I've shown which you have chosen to ignore despite throwing a tantrum when I told you to go look for it yourself.

You're being very disingenuous now so I'll leave that particular discussion there.

The GCRR is still due to have its day in court shortly when we'll hear what the next steps are.

The only certainty is there won't be any sign of a ring road for the next 25 years so if you're waiting for that to fix things, well keep waiting. The current version had everything bar the kitchen sink thrown at it to get it approved fast and it still took 9 years from start to approval, so assuming the same again, you're looking at 2031 for approval, then another 5 years for appeals/decisions/appeals/decisions, 2 years for PSC & cabinet approval, 18 months for contractor selection, 1 year for prep, 4 years for construction, so possibly around 2045 is you're lucky

The GTS review has just gone out to tender too so we'll see by this time next year what additional AT & PT measures can be done without needing the GCRR.

My guesses as to what it will contain are something like the following

• No GCRR. The GCRR may keep trundling along, but the GTS will not include it or call it out as being the critical piece. This would align with what happened in Cork and Limerick transportation strategies IIRC
• Expansion of bus lanes to WDR
• Tuam Rd bus lane to go all the way to Claregalway (I can hope)
• A protected bike lane network will become a priority.
• Removal of all on-street parking
• Road diets at junctions to enforce slower speeds to make it safer for all users
• Provision of ramps at junctions to slow motorists
• Expanded permeability
• Full P&R provision
• Higher frequency bus timetable on all routes, aiming for <10 min frequency
• Greater provision of bike hire schemes and bike parking
• 30k limit in the city

This would be in addition to the Cross City Link, the Dublin Road bus lanes, the Salon Weir bridge, commuter rail, bus connects and other projects already in motion.

As can be seen by the Canal Cordon reports that DCC do every year, its possible to move more people through sustainable modes than by cars and decrease the volume of cars at a steady rate year on year.

Haha, well in fairness, a good idea is a good idea regardless of the source

This will blow your mind further, I agree with your EV tax proposal too. The incentives were needed to allow EV's to get a foothold, but I'm guessing over the next 2-3 years they'll be done away with. They've served their purpose and the money would be better funneled into PT & AT at that point.

Another one that should be over hauled is the bike to work scheme IMHO. You shouldn't need your employer to be involved. A simple rebate system would work better and would open it up to those not in employment or in employers who don't take part in the scheme. In addition, funneling the likes of the EV grants into the likes of cargo bike/e-bike funding would see those take off at a huge rate for those that have longer distances, less ability or need the cargo space. The whole point being to stop the "replace all ICE's with EV's" mantra. It should be more geared to "replace a lot of cars with more sustainable modes" instead.

So yeah, definitely room for improvement

10 years seems long but I am not familiar enough with the economics of home solar but maybe I'm thinking of larger installations. Is that 10 year payback on the current power prices or prices from a year ago? Just wondering what impact the price increases might have had on that

They also announced a massive expansion in their offshore wind plans, going from an initial 11GW to double that at 22GW by 2030 and a total of 70GW by 2050, not to mention the plans for hydrogen that they are working on (no details yet). Plus onshore wind plus solar. Interesting times

Just on the topic of solar, has anyone else spotted reports like this in the media lately. this is the 3rd or 4th one I've seen over the last few months where businesses are installing a plethora of panels

How the media report on climate change and how much prominence they give to those stories and indeed how often they report them, may all be about to change

One comment is of particular note given the many comments here that it would match up to

Interestingly Sinn Féin senator Lynn Boylan seem to be possibly proposing the banning of certain advertisements like was done with smokes

Michael O'Leary is certainly concerned

At least he now admits "aviation does have a damaging impact"

I'm guessing he was told by the marketing guys that his previous position wouldn't hold

The sooner the better. Aviation and shipping are getting off lightly and until they start facing a hit on their profit margin, there is no incentive to improve

In February 2020, ADL was awarded a contract to supply up to 600 hybrid double-deckers. In July 2021, the NTA signed a framework agreement with BYD-ADL for up to 200 electric solo buses. 

There was also an order for 120,

with another 800 more ordered during this year, all ordered from Wrightbus

The hybrid are already in use in some places, Galway being one that I'm aware of