It Occurs To Me:  Plan for Donegal goes off the rails

Eamon Ryan has long been accused of not being in touch with rural Ireland and his latest pronouncement only adds to that perception.

 “This is an important day for the island of Ireland. This is not just the first All-Island Strategic Rail Review, it is the most ambitious vision for rail in a century, bringing us forward to a new age of rail. This vision has been made possible by close cooperation between the Departments and agencies north and south.” 

The Department of Transport added: “The Report sets out 32 strategic recommendations to enhance and expand the rail system in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 2050, aligning with net carbon zero commitments in both jurisdictions. The recommendations seek to transform the quality of the rail system to the benefit of passengers and wider society on the island, through additional track capacity, electrification, increased speeds and higher service frequencies. Furthermore, the vision involves the construction of new rail lines, particularly in the North Midlands and North West, widening accessibility and connectivity.” 

Ah, the fabled North-West! The region which - in the minds of Dublin politicians, civil servants and strategists, stops at Sligo. Look at the adjoining map from the Rail Review…it says it all.

It’s almost ten years since I was annoyed - not for the first time - to hear the announcement - “Last stop, Sligo!” as I traveled on the Dublin train. That bland tannoy announcement should give any self-respecting Donegal person the hump, since we’ve been discriminated against since 1959. I’ve retained a fascinating feature from the Democrat in January 2012 which reminded us that “December 31, 2009 was the actual fiftieth anniversary of closure of the County Donegal railway. The opportunity was taken not just to celebrate this but to demonstrate that a stretch of the old railway line could be reopened locally to Donegal Town. Some 100 metres of track was re-laid by an RPSI team in early December 2009 at Mullanbuoys Crossing Cottage on the line to Killybegs where the cottage and small railway platform have been lovingly restored by owner, Mervyn Johnston. The company’s restored 3-foot gauge 4-seater permanent way trolley was brought to the site on December 31. After a ceremonial opening by the Donegal Town Mayor, trains ran for two hours from 1pm alongside the platform at Mullanbuoys for the first time for 50 years, the trolley performing perfectly.”

The article also outlined that “...by Summer 2007 a further outline proposal had been worked up for a reinstated line in Barnesmore Gap. This was subsequently outlined to Fáilte Ireland and the suggestion was made that an application should be made to their Innovation Fund to sponsor a full feasibility study. The initial estimate was that a further 40,000 visitors per year are possible to a line running from near Biddy’s O’ Barnes up to Derg Bridge and if possible extended alongside Lough Mourne, proposals on raising its level permitting. The latter would allow visitors to take the train up to Lough Mourne and walk back around it to visit the Bog Reclamation site, thus linking the two attractions. Unfortunately the application made to Fáilte Ireland seemed to slip into some unknown ether in the depths and, after many enquiries as to what had happened, it surfaced too late for the fund. This is sadly all too typical of the great sentiment about the old railways failing to be linked to positive and motivated practical action.”

Yes, but what we are talking about here is ‘rail tourism’....surely, there is much merit and a moral obligation on Donegal not being excluded from the Irish railway network in any event. I was reminded of this moral obligation during the recent Bus Éireann strike, motivated by the threat of the privatisation of 10% of the fleet. In my living memory, the CIE/Bus Éireann writ never ran north of Letterkenny! Half of a county in the Republic of Ireland was excluded from state public transport. It was the private Lough Swilly, now the McGinleys, Fedas, McGeehan’s, McGonigle’s, Busways, Gallaghers etc who ensured that our citizens got from A to B. And where the hell were our politicians when we were discriminated against for decades?

                       Neglect of the greater north-west

What is laughable about the rail plan being the result of “close cooperation between the Departments and agencies north and south” is that - notwithstanding Donegal being the ‘forgotten county’ - Belfast has long ignored the plight of Derry. 

Derry city: Donegal would benefit greatly from its neighbour’s uplift 

Recently,  Neil Hegarty’s poignant but powerful piece in the Irish Times captures it eloquently and passionately. Here’s how he sums up the Northern mess: “This place never made any ethical or economic sense – and Derry is the apotheosis of that wider failure. A century ago, the city was locked into a senseless connection with Belfast – and today, it is being sucked dry by this same connection: by the overwhelming Belfast-centrism of Northern Ireland’s economic and political life. When Northern Ireland is wound up, I hope to see natural patterns of society and economics revive, and a century of waste in Derry swept away. I often dream as I walk – I’m doing it again today: I imagine new university buildings, the campus spilling out from its old hillside grounds, reaching towards the city centre, regenerating neighbourhoods, bringing people to live, work, study in central Derry. The city buoyed up, able at last to reach its potential, to acknowledge the past – and let it go. And of course, this is no dream, but the future already on the way.” 

Donegal would benefit greatly from its neighbour’s uplift so for Neil’s sake and those of my five  grandchildren by the Foyle, I dearly hope it comes true.

                               The rise and fall of ‘Mussoltini’

“Why are you so obsessed with Trump?” a longtime friend asked me. 

“Simple” I replied, “his election would not only destroy US democracy but the world too would suffer greatly.” What I find equally amusing and repelling is his accusation that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are Communist. This from somebody who not only admires Putin and Kim Jong Un, but would revel in being a latter-day dictator in the Mussolini cast. As he’s fond of name-calling, I think ‘Mussoltini’ is spot on. 

For someone who made hay out of Joe Biden’s alleged cognitive decline, he’s rapidly showing the symptoms of what we might simply describe in Donegal as “That boy’s a f….n’ header, sir!”

One of my favourite US columnists with the wonderful name of Chauncey De Vega recently wrote, under the heading “Donald Trump is suffering from a severe case of political whiplash”, that “Trump is continuing to behave in such a way that suggests he is experiencing some type of crisis in his thinking, cognition, and overall mental health.” During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, conservative political commentator Charlie Sykes warned:

“This is pre-election denialism by Donald Trump….It's no mystery, Donald Trump is never going to graciously concede defeat in this election. He's already laying the groundwork for what's going to happen after November. I think this is going to be an extraordinarily dangerous period. He has election deniers in key states, his base is psychologically not prepared for him to lose.

This is a desperate man. Donald Trump will not simply lose the election. Donald Trump knows if he is not elected president, he may be going to jail. He will do and say anything.” 

What is disturbing is that the same press who went after Biden about health issues are ignoring Trump.  Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin called out this negligence:

“Press should report this as incoherent, displaying mental deterioration. He is unwell. The refusal to explain how unhinged he is and instead to normalize is reprehensible

The press was able to describe Biden’s affect, energy, syntax. Why don’t they do it for Trump? It is nothing short of shameful.”

Willie Brown, the former speaker of the California assembly, once dated the young Harris. Trump explained: “But he told me terrible things about her. But this is what you’re telling me, anyway, I guess. But he had a big part in what happened with Kamala. But he – he, I don’t know, maybe he’s changed his tune. But he – he was not a fan of hers very much, at that point.”

Wille Brown is the former speaker of the California Assembly. Trump claimed that he had a near-death experience in a helicopter with him and that Brown told him ‘terrible things’ about Kamala.. But Brown was never in a helicopter with Trump! He says: 

“I don’t think I’d want to ride on the same helicopter with him” and he admires Harris – “absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful” – and he supports her “religiously”. says he can’t wait to watch Harris whip Trump in the debate. “I would think it would probably be unfair for her to debate inept Donald Trump with his appalling lack of knowledge. The absence of knowledge is appalling. I would put every nickel I have on the results of the debate and it will all be on Kamala Harris.”

As usual The Donald will be flying by the seat of his pants…in a Chopper made from his wee ‘Mar-a-Lego’ kit.