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BEFORE I BEGIN, I need to stress: There is no better father than you. You’ve shown me how to be devoted and funny. You treat your children as people, not as time-slots and mini-beings to be ferried off to whatever after-school activity.
You’ve been the poster boy for your crocs with socks mantra and I’m pretty sure, you’ve been cracking a big bag of cans with the lads before it was ever an online sensation. A big bag of cans.
I don’t blame you, I never could. How can you blame a person with a medically-certified, mental illness? How about we harass a lady pensioner with a chesty cough? No, of course not, because we’re better people.
I don’t blame you
We know people are more than the demons inside them, more than puppet versions they become once they enter that dark space, where their bad actions happen without control. Dad, I don’t blame you, I never have. Everything you’ve ever done has been consistently archived by me as a decent story to tell over pre-drinks or something quippy to laugh at before the start of a lecture.
You’re liked by all my friends, valued as the hard-up, soft-hearted man. There’s a multitude of things I don’t blame you for, things that I find funny in their own way. Events that give me a coy smile when re-telling them.
Other people have often asked me if everything is okay. I’ve always said yes, because it always has been. Everything, the good, the bad – even that Christmas when Mam made you sleep on the sofa and I worried if Santa would still come – has been branded okay and character building.
“Character building” has been the great Irish euphemism for things that might not break you, but certainly mould you in a certain way. I think it may have done both.
I rebel by conforming
I didn’t get my taste for travel from those manic after-school trips to Belfast or Wales with no foreign currency, or my sense of justice from the time you brought me to a grim court case and you were told to exit the court with your seven-year-old child.
I didn’t get my sense of rebellion from you either, as highlighted when you urged me to forget the CAO and inter-rail for a while. Do Europe, you urged, while nodding at the stack of past papers on my desk. My rebellion came by conforming.
Some of my friends drank in a field to rebel against their parents, I did honours French. I don’t think I’ll ever have a mad drugs phase. I won’t become skinny like Iggy Pop and chew my jaw all over Dublin.
I might just end up wearing a lot of green and brown, and take up a cosy job in a tax office or something. In the eyes of my ex-raver Dad, that’s the beast of true rebellion.
I get my nose from you, though. I get my off-kilter sense of humour, my hunger for discounted supermarket bakery food and my beguiled sense of servitude to those I surround myself with. “Are ye alright for tea and everything?” I might ask a person as they sit on their own sofa. In a house where I am their guest. Yes, they’ll tell me. I’m grand.
I’m the family oddball
If you look at the crew you and Mam made there’s a definite Berlin Wall of personality division within our tiny house. I’d argue that the dog is more like Mam’s side of the family, but I’m already the family oddball and don’t want any more arguments in favour of this title.
What I do know, after many morning-after-the-night-before headaches, hazy last buses home and white-noise hangovers, is that I am not you. No matter which drug I try, what drink I’ve snuck into a nightclub in a water bottle, this isn’t my illness.
It’s yours Dad. And I won’t say sorry, because it’s not me. Perhaps this is a question the entire Irish nation must deal with, how much of a drinker do you have to be before you become a drunk?
Without a doubt Freud would have a right Austrian field-day with the issues expressed in this quasi-letter to you. They are exactly what I called them: issues. I am not the perfect son, and part of me feels a weight has been lifted now that I’ve written this.
I could never blame you, you’re my Dad. My weird, troubled Dad. A man so consumed with the pressure of the human experience, the forces of the human mind that I can almost do nothing more than hold gratitude for everything you’ve done so far. Your person is so full of the technicolour angst of your mental illness that your destructive actions are miniscule in comparison with the daily fight you face.
Remember Dad, crocs, no socks.
The author of this piece has requested to remain anonymous.
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Ryan as usual hasn’t a bulls notion. Buses dropping off the RTPI like flies, cancelled at last minute with no explanation, anti social behaviour at an all time high, no tickets being checked for fare evaders, a bus gate in the city centre not worth the name, zero policing of bus lanes. A parody of a bus network.
@Matt D: I did notice an increase in tickets being checked both in the Dublin Bus and Luas over the past two years… Another issue the stops are brutal with several buses arriving at the same time or just driving past when there are too many. Buses turned into traffic is achieving the opposite of what a decent public transport network should do.
@Matt D: yes a poor public transport network because of 100 years of FFFG dismantling it and the Garda not enforcing rules of the road is all Eamon Ryan’s fault
@eoin fitzpatrick: Well no, but still any ‘idea’ he has already happened in real cities 30 years ago. He’s not a man of vision, but then none of them are I suppose
@eoin fitzpatrick: yeah, you’re spot on. Seeing as he’s the minister with the relevant portfolio theres absolutely nothing he could do about it….
@Thesaltyurchin: So if he suggests implementing something that has been tried and tested elsewhere, he has no vision? Damned if you do…. etc.
@Jason Memail: Not quite, it should just be done, do we need to grandstand congestion charge in very central areas? Where is the high-speed train plan? the light-rail down every commuter M road? There isn’t one, but you are right it would be shot down by the lantern-jawed ‘stick in the mud’ attitude, should have said we’re not a people of vision
@eoin fitzpatrick: can you not read …people need to be responsible particularly young people when driving when a speed sign says 60 drive at 60 simple
@Matt D: These busses dropping off the RTPI screens/apps are “scheduled buses”. They were in the timetable but weren’t actually running that day because there was no driver to run the service. The road and bus stop infrastructure isn’t there to facilitate running a properly functioning bus service in Dublin. There are no faster journey times happening with the Busconnects plan. It’s a complete farce. Journey times are being dragged out by busses crawling along at 20-30kph on roads with 50-100kph speed limits and holding at timing points idling diesel fumes into the atmosphere increasing emissions. This is all being done at the request of Mr Ryan and his Green Party as a plan to encourage more people to take up cycling by making all other forms of transport slower than using a bike.
Alternative headline: Affordability to own and run a car at all-time low.
@Melanie Keane: I wish there were more people like you, who realise that using public transport is cheaper than owning and running a car.
@Melanie Keane: so how come there are so many houses with 2 cars and more and more cars on the road every year?
@eoin fitzpatrick: my guess is PCP and financing. I have 3 siblings, 2 of us have car loans, 2 have PCPs. 10 years ago it would have all been car loans which would have been harder to get.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: One shoe never fits all, surprised to see it used as an argument.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: A huge % of Irelands working population depend entirely on cars to get to work in a timely fashion. The network couldn’t carry them if they all decided to use public transport instead. For many of these drivers; their trip to work would take multiple times more by bus than by car or simply not be possible at all. Their life would be miserable.The vast majority of public transport workers have no option but to drive to work. Public transport is actually dependent on the car.
I definitely use it more now, mainly because it’s €2 each way within the 90 minutes. I can promise you, however, the service in North County Dublin has not improved in the last few years.
Imagine the increase if we actually had good connections and decent frequencies/reliable schedules across the island, a decent rural connection, plus extended timetables for night buses (I’m thinking of the airport and all those 6am flights that need of a taxi).
@maritoj: No bus service will ever replace a taxi service. Prebook, fast and door to door!
@Fred Coloe:
Haha spot the taxi driver!
People can’t afford to drive since we’ve been slaughtered with high fuel prices and green taxes. Hours extra spent on buses contracting all manor of flu viruses, stay classy FFG!
@Dave Grant: Get vaccinated. Then you will be virtually immune to all manner of flu viruses.
our population has also increased.
Will never use bus eireann again in my life. In 2017 I was up at 5:30 to get bus from monaghan to dublin as needed to be in beacon hospital for 8 to get knee replaced. Bus pulls out and driver sticks head out window full sorry and drove off. After that said never again. Failed to get to beacon and hopped off home.
Was at a game in the Aviva last Saturday and couldn’t believe that for the purposes of ‘crowd control’ the Grand Canal Dart station was closed, and all passengers were being directed back to the Lansdowne Road station. We must be the only country in the world that restricts public transport when there’s an event on.
@Aisling Farrell: The world and their cat knows that GCD is closed on match days at the Aviva, which is because Lansdowne road station implements additional queuing systems on match days, and has the space to do so since it’s pedestrianised before, during and after the match. Despite the “only in Ireland” type of populist claim, you’ll see the same system implemented at many events across Europe, because it works.
So Public transport use is up 25% AND the roads are clogged. lol
Could the increase come from changing bus routes. Many people’s direct bus routes were changed resulting in them needing to get 2 buses to and from work
I want what Ann is smoking.
Berlin is a world leader in transport.
Not Dublin.
Public transport is brilliant where I li e, even got rid of the car. Even a direct bus to Dublin Airport. 25 Euro with the Leap Card. Okay you have to plan your journeys , brilliant though, hop in , plug in the mobile , free listening all the way, drivers are brilliant. City Busses are rammed, so doing something right, hopefully with more buses to come on stream service will improve more. Should ban all cars from city centre, or at least introduce a congested charge
@Peter Byrne: So, you’re lucky transport suits you where you live so screw those who it doesn’t suit with congestion charges? Most of the congestion I encounter driving thru the city( in busses I drive) is caused by too many buses being rammed thru too few narrow streets and appalling traffic light sequencing. Then there’s all the self centred cyclists who think this is all about me getting ahead of everyone. They never let busses in or out of a bus stop. They’re complete narcissists.
Inspite of the usual 64 express Galway Derry delays and the occasional locked bathroom, I was becoming a regular happy bus user until…………
on a Sat morning around 10:30, the bus driver stepped down to the sidewalk, let everyone on but me, then told me the bus was full…even though I was first in line and the bus was most definitely not full!
So am back to driving and enjoying the predictability of it all! Have seen a bus driver do that to a tourist at Knock airport from inside the 64 bus with lots of empty seats but he wouldn’t let her board….no clue why! end of random rant
@Doherty: It’s possible to book a seat on a bus, so empty seats need to be kept for pre-booked people joining at stops along the way. If you were first in line of a queue but weren’t let on while the people behind you were, you either hadn’t reserved a seat while they had, or you need some training in how a queue works.
@Jason Memail: Not sure about the training comment!
No i had not pre booked a seat and neither had the last man that successfully boarded pre booked and who was clearly further back in queue!….
Agreed Yes, just to be sure to be sure, I should have prebooked even for an early morning Saturday trip to Galway…..
When on the bus on an other trip to Galway when the lady tourist was refused boarding at Knock airport, there was ample empty seating all the way to Galway City center!..
As I was a weekly regular on the 64, I have seen a full bus situation where the driver got up and walked to the back of the bus to count empty seats, then boarded who he could but left several people on the sidewalk in Claregalway because the bus was actually full!
Tram frequency has gone down the toilet over the last few years. Always disruption. Trams dirty and the displays on the platform don’t match the app, and neither represent actual reality of tram arrival time.
Bring in uber.
So something like a 6th of all work journeys across the state.
2.7M people work daily in Ireland. 63% (1.7M) of them commute daily. That’s 3.4M commuter journeys a day.
3.4M x 300 days is 1 billion 20 million commuter journeys annually in 260 days.
Last year we had a total (365 days) of 300m public transport journeys.
Compared to 1 Billion 20 Million commuter journeys. Excluding weekends, and on a 300 day (total) year.
Imagine if the other 90% of the country had public teansport.
There’s a serious capacity issue, in Galway at least. The 4.45pm bus from Galway city to Leitir Mealláin, which serves the whole of Cois Fharraige, had only 2 seats remaining by the time it reached the FIRST bus stop in the city this evening, leaving a half dozen people – young and old – stood in the cold. The 5.15pm bus was full by the time it reached Salthill, leaving a group of secondary school students stranded in the cold and dark on the Prom, the driver stopping at every subsequent stop to tell people they had to wait for the 6.15pm bus. And this the new and improved service.
Obviously the huge jumps in numbers using public transport from 2022 to 2023 were dur to emerging from the covid pandemic. Numbers are up 5% from 2019 so up a bit. Ultimately we didn’t build metros or dart underground’s or more LUAS lines. All the things that were slated to be completed years and years ago. What do we then expect when trying to muddle through without any of that? Not enough, buses, phantom buses, late buses, sardine can LUAS at peak times etc. etc. it will take a couple of decades to get it right IF everything goes according to plan from now on which it probably won’t.
Nothing but whingers on here. Nothing will ever be good enough. They don’t even realise that they are a flock of sheep.
@Sun Rise: Guide us, wise Shepherd…
With the population rising by 5% last year this is hardly surprising.
The public transport is worse than ever for even more people.
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