One is trying to fob off a white elephant of a transport system on us, the other's a character from the Simpsons.

Today FF and the PDs announced their super-duper plan to bring us into the 19th century. Amazingly, there wasn't even a mention of Lyle Lanley in the Transport 21 plan.

We're going to have seven new Luasesseses, two fantastic metro lines, DART extensions and and and even a big shiny new central station in St. Stephen's Green linking the whole lot together.

Wow! I can't wait. It's going to be so cool. Who knows, they might even have it all running before then?

Get real. The Luas was first proposed in 1990. It was five years late and cost three times as much as originally planned. Now they want to build seven new lines. Christ on a bike!

DART services, which connect posh areas in the south to posh areas in the north, were improved recently. It took two years to add extensions to the platforms. Now they want to extend the line itself - to Wexford.

The exchequer takes in around €38 billion in receipts every year. They want to spend a year's national income on one area of living - moving. What about things that are more important to survival? Can we now expect the government to spend the same on the environment, the health system, housing, education? The list is endless.

Published by Colm.