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One night out in Dublin city with five different soup runs

There are at least 16 different groups or organisations that give out food and supplies on the streets of Dublin city on a regular basis.
Photo_2018-06-22_01-11-33_PMDifferent groups of volunteers in Dublin city on Monday evening.Source: Cormac Fitzgerald/TheJournal.ie

IT'S 7.30 ON a cloudy Monday evening and I'm sitting with Dougie Hobson in the meeting room of old Trinity Church building on Lower Gardiner Street.

The towering Protestant Episcopal Church was first opened in 1839 before it became a Labour Exchange for almost a century. These days, it's used as a meeting place for the various activities of the Trinity Church Christian group.

Dougie's telling me about the work of the Mustard Seed Soup Run, which goes out around Dublin city every Monday night giving out food and supplies to the homeless population.

Volunteers in red hi-vis jackets take to the streets with pull trolleys laden down with coffee pots, sandwiches, pot noodles, sleeping bags, clothes, wipes and other provisions to hand out.

Everyone involved with the soup run is a volunteer, giving up their time and evenings to help those less fortunate.

"We all love it and we've very committed and we all love the guys and girls that we look after," Dougie tells me.

They're absolutely lovely. Our clients - we call them our friends actually - our friends, they're absolutely brilliant.

The Mustard Seed Soup Run (it takes its name from a biblical passage) was set up in 2006, in response to what church members saw as a growing need among homeless people on the streets of Dublin.

It's one of at least seven soup runs that go out around Dublin city on a Monday night.

IMG_20180618_195603The Trinity building.Source: Cormac Fitzgerald/TheJournal.ie

Soup runs 

After we finish talking, I thank Dougie and tell him that I will catch up with the soup run later.

I leave the towering building to pick up my bike where I left it and start cycling down towards O'Connell Street.

I'm out on a mission. For the last few years I've noticed an increasing number of soup runs and food stalls appearing on the streets of Dublin - handing out food and supplies to the ever-growing number of homeless people.

I want to talk to the people behind the groups, ask them why they do it, and settle a niggling question at the back of my mind: are so many soup runs really necessary?

I reach the GPO on O'Connell Street in time to see volunteers setting up tables behind the historic columns.

A crowd of people - men, mostly, but women and mothers with small children too - are forming a queue as volunteers in blue jackets bring pots of steaming food and set them up on the table.

IMG_20180618_201409A queue forms at the GPOSource: Cormac Fitzgerald/TheJournal.ie

The sun has come out by now and it's a bright evening as the group of at least 50 people queue for food. Irish stew, chicken curry, pasta and mince are all on the menu for dinner. One volunteer goes about the crowd with hot water offering tea and coffee.

Next to the table of food, a separate crowd gathers around two volunteers at a table of various items of clothing. People in ragged clothes sort through jeans, t-shirts, jumpers, jacket looking for something that fits.

A small child screams to its mother in its pram. At one point, a woman screams that she was pushed; a man shouts, "Do you want to go off in the ambulance?" to another. But aside from these incidents the mood is relaxed, the atmosphere friendly.

I get talking to Brian Murphy - one of the volunteers. The group is called Hope for Homeless, a fully volunteer-run organisation set up nearly two-and-a half years ago.

"We just set it up in response to the growing number of homeless people," Brian tells me.

He says that there are different groups set up outside the GPO every single night, and Hope For Homeless are there on Mondays.

"A lot of us were in town on a regular basis and we could see more and more homeless people on the streets and it was quite obvious that there was a big issue," he says.

We're not changing the world or anything but it's just something small to try and help what's a much bigger problem.

Brian says that the people they feed are "incredibly appreciative of the service that's being provided for them".

"A lot of the time people that come on the soup run it's not just a matter of food, they also want to have a chat with somebody. They don't get an opportunity to speak to people all day long so it's an opportunity to speak to someone and listen to someone," he says.

I think that is hugely important. I think they've been ignored so much in general society it's great to have someone that can come and even just for a couple of minutes have a chat with them.

Similar to when I went out on a soup run last year, I'm reminded once again of the words of Tony Gill – a homeless poet who lived in Dublin until his death in 2004.

In his poem Today, Tony speaks briefly about the loneliness and isolation of living on the streets:

Today I spoke to no one,
And nobody spoke to me.
Am I dead?

But does it help?

I say my goodbyes to Brian and head across the river towards Dame Street, where I know another group is setting up a food stall.

By my count, there are at least 16 different groups or organisations that give out food and supplies on the streets of Dublin city on a regular basis.

Some do it seven nights a week, others on set days. Some set up stalls, others walk around the city. Some are religiously motivated, but the majority are just grassroots community groups set up to respond to what they see as a need on the streets.

I don't meet Dublin Simon volunteers tonight, but I know they're out. So including them and the groups I meet, I count at least seven separate groups handing out food in Dublin on Monday evening.

Back in January, I interviewed Dr Beth Watts – a senior research fellow at Heriot Watt University and expert on homeless policy studies.

Dr Watts argues that the response of people to feed and clothe the homeless may not always be the best response when they see a need.

“If you’re interested in making the most difference, you might say there’s an obligation not just to volunteer, not just to do anything but to do the thing that helps the most,” Watts told TheJournal.ie.

She argues for something called "effective altruism" - meaning people should look towards not just giving to a good cause or wanting to help, but instead work towards an actual solution to the problem.

“The general sense you get that the only things that are required here are good intentions and maybe some innovative ideas – that this is all unquestionably good, unquestionably morally praiseworthy and unquestionably helps people who are homeless," she said at the time.

I just think that is not sufficient.

Growing 

At the Central Bank I'm greeted by a similar sight to the GPO - a stall set up with lots of food and clothes, and volunteers doling them out to a large group of gathered people.

Again the food is being handed out and eaten, there is a pile of clothes for people to sort through, and again people seem appreciative.

IMG_20180618_210135People gathering at the Central BankSource: Cormac Fitzgerald/TheJournal.ie

Keira Gill is moving among the volunteers and the homeless people eating the food - talking with ease to everyone and listening to the stories she's being told.

She's the founder of A Lending Hand, which hands out food every Monday night.

Keira set up the group with other volunteers five years ago in 2013 for the same reason everyone decides to volunteer - as a response to seeing a need on the streets.

As time passed, they saw the demand for their service grow.

"There was only about 70 people then [when we first started]," Keira tells me.

"The longer we stayed the more the demand grows. We have seen it grow from like 70 a night to like 250 a night," she says.

Keira and A Lending Hand liaise with the other soup runs and stalls in Dublin, so that they can coordinate efforts and their approach.

I ask her the same questions - why she started, does it take its toll, are all these soup runs needed?

"It's very much needed. It is. I know people probably look and say, 'there's loads of them out there doing it', but their wouldn't be loads of us if it wasn't needed," she says.

But Keira has been doing this for a long time, and she has a viewpoint that many people who hand out food and clothes to homeless people have - which is the desire to do more.

A student of sociology and social policy at Trinity College Dublin, Keira sees a need to effect real, lasting change from a community level.

"We're trying to build a grassroots movement so that we will have more of an impact than just a soup run," she says.

Not that being just a soup run isn't amazing - but I definitely want to do more.

I'm reminded of Inner City Helping Homeless who I went out with last year and who will be back on the streets later tonight. Initially set up as a soup run, the charity has now grown to do a lot of advocacy work on behalf of homeless adults and families.

People start by handing out food, but before long many will see how they can help people out of homelessness rather than help them in homelessness - effective altruism.

Direct action 

I say bye to Keira and the volunteers and head back towards my bike. On the way, I bump into another soup run - this one made up of a group of Polish Christians giving out tea, coffee, soup and spreading their belief.

I don't spend too long chatting to them, and head off on my bike towards Grafton Street, on the off-chance I might bump into another group.

IMG_20180618_205637 Cormac Fitzgerald / TheJournal.ie Cormac Fitzgerald / TheJournal.ie / TheJournal.ie

It's not long before I come across yet another soup run on Suffolk Street. This time, the group is called Feed Our Homeless, and is run by an energetic man named Tony Walsh.

Tony used to be homeless himself, and set up the group about 18 months ago to help others in the same situation he used to be in.

While the origin stories are different for Dougie, Keira, Brian  and Tony and all the other hundreds of volunteers, the motivation is the same - a desire to help those less fortunate.

After I take my leave of Tony, I come across a homeless man, Glen, sitting in a shop doorway on Grafton Street.

Glen's been homeless for more than three years. He says that the homeless hostels are dangerous and full of drug users, so he sleeps on the streets instead.

For Glen, the soup runs provide an important lifeline for him, and a connection to the wider world.

"Otherwise you... wouldn't basically have anything only for them they're a very good service they are," he says.

It would be very difficult without them.

Glen says that "it's a hard life" on the streets and the supplies and food given by the soup runs make it that bit easier.

"Otherwise you wouldn't have the food and you wouldn't have the sleeping bags and basically you'd be lying there in cardboard covering yourself," he says.

Closing time 

Back on my bike, a cycle over the river again back to the north side where I come across the Mustard Seed Soup Run on O'Connell Street at the GPO.

It's about 10 o'clock and getting dark. Hope for Homeless have left by now, with no sign that just over an hour ago the GPO had been full of people eating freshly cooked meals.

Dougie isn't with the soup run, but the group of six they let me fall in with them as they do their rounds.

It's the same story - the group hands out Pot Noodles, tea, coffee, sandwiches. As they walk down Henry Street, the stop to talk to people along the way.

A man tells them about just getting out of hospital, another man on a bike talks about the distance he has to cycle.

IMG_20180618_220059

People are appreciative and grateful. Later, Inner City helping Homeless volunteers will walk the same paths handing out tea and coffee and food to those who want it.

Tomorrow, entirely different groups of volunteers will set up stalls at the GPO and Central Bank, while others will walk the streets.

I leave the volunteers to head home and am reminded of something Keira said to me at Central Bank:

"We're ordinary citizens. We don't do anything that spectacular that others couldn't do, do you know?

"And I think that if everyone was just a bit kinder we'd have a much nicer world to live in. The reason we're here is just to bring a little bit of humanity back."

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:30 AM

    The irony is that we had a tram system in Cork just like Dublin years ago but both systems were ripped up to make way for cars. Now we can look at the old lines that have either fallen into disregard or turned into walkways from our cars stuck in a traffic jam.

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    Mute Mr Snuffleupagus
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:49 AM

    @Brian Ward: And a very good system it was. We could also do with more small car ferries as the Cobh to Passage West one has been a real success. I think it would open up parts of East Cork that are just too far out to commute to the city otherwise, to housebuyers and help relieve pressure on first time buyers and renters.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:19 AM

    @Brian Ward:

    Indeed, isn’t there still a visible rail line that goes all the way down to the Point in Dublin along the quays. They didn’t even bother removing it when cars were all the rage. Yet how many hundreds of millions did they spend extending the luas down to the Point.

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    Mute Mark Hosford
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:41 PM

    The cork tram system was ripped up in the 30s largely for economic reasons … Dublin was more vanity …

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:13 AM

    The population argument is really the wrong way around. Population density follows public transport infrastructure. It’s not that you should have density before you get the transport.

    Something to consider. In the 1970s, the density in Cork and Dublin was very similar. Since then, Dublin’s has increased, while Cork’s has decreased. Why? Because Dublin has seen investment in quality public transport (DART, Luas), while Cork has been forced to rely on the car, which means stretched out suburbs. Just look at what has been built along the Luas lines and you’ll see this effect.

    If we try to increase density without having the public transport in place first, we’ll just get people who are car dependent and won’t change, and we’ll encourage congestion, plus a belief that giving up the road space will make the congestion worse.

    The public transport needs to come first.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:20 AM

    But surely you cannot justify spending billions on a light rail system for a city population of 120,000 while you then wait for the workers to arrive. Where’s the demand? That’s Jackie Healy Rae logic.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:20 AM

    @Chris Mansfield:

    You are absolutely correct, yet all Irish planners and politicians think in exactly the opposite way. They think public transport should be “provided” to where people are already living.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:22 AM

    Of course it’s supply and demand. Do something different and you end up in a Bus Eireann situation.

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    Mute Emeralds
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:27 AM

    Billions?

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:47 AM

    540,000 actually Sean.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:56 AM

    @Sean @114:

    Sean bus lines should be provided for where people are already living. Rail lines however should be put in place in advance of development. It becomes much easier to get planning permission if there’s a rail link, so it’s a case of build it and they will come.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Mar 4th 2017, 10:49 AM

    And you believe that 540K. The new children’s hospital was going to cost €260m initially. Now it’s over a billion!!!! Treble whatever figure is thrown out there.

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    Mute Ashling Fenton
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    Mar 4th 2017, 12:10 PM

    There still needs to be a minimum density to ensure revenue .

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:47 PM

    Chris you say in the 1970s the density of Dublin and Cork was similar and based on this premise build an entire argument for light rail in Cork. on that. The problem is that your premise is untrue. Dublin has always had a far larger population than Cork city. If you think that the only reason Dublin has grown faster than Cork is public transport then you haven’t been to Dublin and don’t know the economics of cities. Dublin is a capital city. Cork is a small city. It has neither the population or the density for light rail. Other solutions will have to be found.

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    Mute Talleyrand Frye
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    Mar 4th 2017, 4:20 PM

    @John R: Population size and population density are not the same thing. Ireland has a larger population than San Marino, but San Marino has greater population density than Ireland.

    I am not saying Chris is right or wrong – but you at least need to understand exactly what he is saying before you can critique his points.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Mar 4th 2017, 5:51 PM

    Sean…wake up. 540,000 is the population of Cork…not the 120,000 you stated.

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:30 PM

    Metrland.

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    Mute Conchuir
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    Mar 5th 2017, 9:04 AM

    Yeah Tony that’s the entire county not the city

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 5th 2017, 12:47 PM

    Talleyrand you’re correct but it’s irrelevant in this case. You can have population density but lack the size of population necessary to make rail a realistic population. Dublin has that population but barely the scale as the city it too spread out. Cork city has neither the population nor the scale. Politicians make many promises most based on populism. Light rail is very expensive both to build and to run. The construction requires a massive state subvention. The operational costs in the case of the Dublin Luas are met by the users. In the case of Cork it is likely that the user base would be far less for any given line. Hence an operational subsidy would be needed.

    The argument that just because Dublin has it Cork should as well is just the politics of envy not reason.

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    Mute Donal Martin
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:24 AM

    Nobody cares about outside Dublin, that’s what

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    Mute Brian Ward
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:32 AM

    Exactly Donal, whatever happened to the “Dart to Dingle”?

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    Mute Alan Scott
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:27 AM

    A lot of the streets are very narrow but we love the Cork people

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:53 AM

    @Alan. For the most part a LUAS type system would service the suburbs..the wider streets such as Patrick Street, South Mall, Grand Parade and Parnell Place would be well able to accommodate it. Given that Cork has such a high density of FDI with the pharmaceutical industry in particular, this would benefit the movement of people hugely from places like Ring as kiddy and Little Island the latter which suffers from enormous traffic congestion, so much so businesses there are staggering their staffs finishing times to allow them get home at a reasonable hour. It makes nothing but good sense to have a system like this here albeit on a smaller scale that Dublin. Ohhhhh…and we love ye too.

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    Mute Don O Sullivan
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:32 AM

    I remember rail tracks in the 70s and early 80s that ran from Kent Station up towards City Hall over Brian Boru Bridge.These were used a lot by freight trains transporting grain and fertiliser at the time to and from the docks.Its such a shame that they were covered over and were not extended to other parts of the city and parts of the county.In actual fact a rail system ran from Skibereen right in towards Waterfall also which was allowed go ruin and never preserved.Its such a shame.I’d prefer the thoughts of having a tram type system that operates in our twinned city San Francisco.

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    Mute prop joe
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:33 AM

    There are old railway lines that can be used but critical junctions have been sold off in Cork city. An East West line would make sense joining the courthouse , ucc bons hospital, cuh , model road industrial park, cit. But this will never happen. So it’s the bus or cycle if you don’t want to drive.

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    Mute Adrian
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    Mar 4th 2017, 7:35 AM

    So in summary. The politicians bankrupt the country and population didn’t seem to be the problem before the economic crash but it’s the excuse now because they can’t afford it now basically.

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    Mute Stephen Devlin
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:42 AM

    But certain amenities like wage rises and water meters there is plenty money for

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    Mute rockmast
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    Mar 4th 2017, 10:53 AM

    A small monorail would probably work better in Cork than a luas tram line. A lot of the cost of building the luas was buying land off people along the line. A stoneworks in Dundrum got around 5 million while an acre at the edge of Sandyford cost 12 million. Put it up in the air on stilts.

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    Mute Eugene Conroy
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    Mar 4th 2017, 10:07 AM

    Should read “What happened to Cork”

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    Mute phil o c
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    Mar 4th 2017, 11:01 AM

    What do you mean by that Eugene?

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    Mute David
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    Mar 4th 2017, 11:59 AM

    Well the it’s the Peoples Republic of Cork so pay for it yourselves lol

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    Mute David MC
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:09 PM

    @David: Cork accounts for one third of the total economic output of the country so we could well afford it …

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 5th 2017, 1:00 PM

    David “Cork accounts for one third if the total economic output of the country”! Seriously? So Cork city and county with a population of 529,000 people out of a national population of 4.7 million people accounts for 33% of economic output even though it has only 11% of the population. Seriously amazing. I am in awe. Poor Dublin with a population of 1.35 million only accounts for another 42% of GDP. So based on your estimate Dublin and Cork and accounts for 77% of the entire economic output of the Republic despite having less than half the population. Moreover Cork is incomparably wealthier than Dublin.

    I suggest that your statement about Cork economic output is wrong. Very wrong.

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    Mute David MC
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:08 PM

    The LUTS plan for Cork going back to the late 70s had a light rail system in the project but never was acted on due to the cost , a smaller city like Cork can benefit from these types of transport platforms better than already built up cities like Dublin as it helps the city grow and you can add to them as the city grows they also help with economic advancement , why wait until it has to be justified , justify it on the basis of helping the city grow and then it will pay for its self down the line ..

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    Mute HoneyBadger617
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:29 AM

    It got lost on its way down and now it’s the Dublin cross city link. See it’s simple when you know the truth.

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    Mute Kieran Mcnamee
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    Mar 4th 2017, 8:23 AM

    Why ?

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    Mute mcgoo
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:53 PM

    Taking Dublins system as an example, A green line would run through the leafy suburbs of ballintemple and Douglas. A red line would take in ballyvolane and knocknaheeny.

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    Mute David
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    Mar 4th 2017, 11:58 AM

    It’s Cork lol

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    Mute David MC
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    Mar 4th 2017, 1:10 PM

    @David: Aw another person with an attitude about Cork when projects are talked about the biggest county in the country
    and a population of 500,000 thousand people ..

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    Mute Buster VL
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    Mar 4th 2017, 9:28 PM

    Don’t even think about a luas for cork. AAA Wally would recommend a starting salary of half a million P.a. for tram drivers.

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