Arthur Beesley

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Arthur Beesley

When Bertie Ahern was taoiseach, he invited the chief of the Madrid metro to Merrion Street to discuss underground rail for Dublin. The late Prof Manuel Melis Maynar had built the Spanish system in record time at minimal cost. At a meeting in Government Buildings, he said the limestone beneath Dublin was ideal for tunnelling. Ahern replied: “When can you start?”That was in 2003. Two decades later, the perennial wait for a Dublin metro goes on.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Arthur Beesley

The Government wants to cap legal fees that can be claimed from the State in environmental planning cases, in a bid to discourage High Court actions against infrastructure and housing projects. Ministers have been taking advice on the measures from Attorney General Rossa Fanning this week. This is being done in the hope of stemming the tide of legal actions that have held up schemes relating to wastewater, roads and housing.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Arthur Beesley

The Peter McVerry Trust has again rejected a request to appear before a powerful Dáil committee for a public hearing on its €15 million State bailout. The Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) had asked the charity to attend Leinster House on Thursday to discuss a report on its financial troubles by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), the spending watchdog. The meeting comes after serious governance failings by the trust came to light in investigations by two State regulators.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Arthur Beesley

The number of people being taken to court for not holding a TV licence has dropped sharply, despite the wave of evasion set off by the RTÉ payments controversy. Raising fresh questions over the effectiveness of the TV funding regime, new figures show enforcement reduced after licence sales collapsed in the wake of the affair.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Arthur Beesley

More than 800 new social and “affordable” homes will be built near Leopardstown Racecourse in south Co Dublin after a deal to transfer State-owned land to the Land Development Agency (LDA) from the national horse-racing body was reached. The long-awaited agreement, backed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, will deliver housing on a 17-acre plot of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) land next to the M50 motorway. The land is zoned for residential use but currently used for racecourse car parking.