The train now departing from platform 9 ¾.

It brought a wry smile to my face. I almost broke into a chorus of “We’ll meet again” last Wednesday at the station. Fianna Fail and Greens united on the ground in the south east to oppose rail closures while their colleagues in power did everything to see the line shut. And be cetain that we will meet again. Its gut wrenching to watch the Greens and FF turn up to be filmed by RTE when baring FF’s Tony Dempsey they did nothing about stopping Dempsey and Cuffe. Irish Rail brought forward their opening of the Dunboyne link to coincide with the announced withdrawal of service between Rosslare and Waterford in another spoiler move of theirs. Dan Boyle’s fleeting appearance on the rail protest brought a sense of celebrity to the campaign but nothing else.theirs!

I’ve always been cynical about the Greens but not even I could have thought that they’d stoop this low. On the night of the first protest meeting in Wellington Bridge a Waterford Green assured me that Minister Cuffe would contact me to discuss the matter. I sent him the 2003 report on the line, the rebuttal of costings sent to him by Irish Rail. Did he contact me?
When the Irish Times came looking for him to comment he took his cue from the old Dr Hook song, “Sylvia’s Mother”, he was too busy to come to the phone! One local green councillor was busy spoofing “With Ciaran Cuffe in place as Minister for Sustainable Transport, we have an open ear. We need however to make our own strong case. We need to make sure that we, together with Irish Rail, market this line properly, in order to give it a chance. There is a bit of momentum gathering here and that's good. But don't stop here, so please tell your friends” All of this was done but to no avail.


The Greens aren’t interested in Co Wexford while Fianna Fail are only interseted in bailing out developers. So long as Fianna Fail will tolerate minority middle class issues they’ll indulge Gormley and his party. So long as the Greens can ignore the rest of the country, FF get on with bailing out their supporters and they’ll throw the kitchen at it!
So right now the spin is that the line will close, not so! In fact Irish Rail must provide and maintain the line so that if another operator wishes to utilise the line they will have access and that the NTA will support the Rail Partnership model and the Southern & Eastern Regional Authority in their work to develop links. So in effect the ball is in our court, Irish Rail, the Greens and FF are off the pitch. Let us who live in the area now plan how best to deliver what is in the interest of thise who live here.

What’s the difference between Ireland and Iceland?

There’s a running joke in business circles to this effect. Set against the backdrop of Wexford being covered in snow, I can see more than the economic parallels however there are key differences, Our currency isn’t under threat, interest rates and inflation are low. As a result what passes for political leadership in Dublin is still in denial as to the real underlying causes in the hole in our government finances.
The Icelanders on the other hand have turned to the Social Democrats to haul themselves out of the mess. They deserve to suceed. Their new PM it seems is a former air hostess, now there’s someone who could perhaps put Michael O’Leary in his box. Perhaps putting someone from a left wing perspective in charge here maybe something that we could do here, after all the people who created the mess are now saying that they have a cunning plan to take us out of it! Their problem is that they have no credibility with the electorate, market sentiment or trade unions.
Later today the government will unveil its plan to cut spending. This will include a unilateral move on either public service pay, pensions or both.
Later we’ll know how many of the government’s kites will take off There’s been a month of media guessing about government plans as Fianna Fail and the Greens float ideas to see how the public respond. This approach failed dismally in the run up to the budget as they assumed no opposition to the change in OAP medical cards. It may well fail again. Greena Fail have floated cuts in the carers allowance, the Back to School Allowance, Ministers for state, public service pay, pensions, child care supplement and numbers working in the public service, introduction of domestic rates, property taxes, new upper tax bands and domestic water charges. They’re just the ones that come to my mind. To make matters worse for those on low incomes there’s no guarantee that all social welfare rates will be maintained rather the minister is saying is that her budget will be increased.
So what would Labour do that’s different? Well if pay freezes are in fashion why not cap salaries in banks that expect tax payers to bail them out? Why not pass on the full reduction in interest rate to all mortgage holders? Why not guarantee nobody in arrears on their mortgage will be evicted? Why not address the recent Forfas report that shows prices in the republic should be no more than 5% above those in the north? Why not ensure those on low pay do not have a pay cut? You know when you hear business leaders taking about sharing the pain I often wonder where were these people when it came to sharing the profits during the boom? Probably sipping Sancerre on a veranda in the sun!
Well best of luck to the new PM in the land of the midnight sun. I hope Iceland joins the EU, we have a lot in common with them and maybe after a general election we might have more, a Labour Taoiseach?