Enough government incompetence to go around
Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 12:16 PM
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What government Minister or state body will be the 'great freeze' headline maker tomorrow morning?
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey because of his vanishing act - he was in Malta for the week - when all forms of transport were grinding to a halt in the face of our complete weather shut-down?
Or maybe Met Eireann - the national weather service - after they clearly blew the forecast for this weekend. We were supposed to be digging out from 10cm! (that's 4 inches!!) of snow today, but instead it's raining. And it's going to go on raining. There'll probably be no ice or snow left on the roads by the morning. Weather.com - based in America - called it right, but our local meteorology experts got it totally wrong.
What about the Dublin Airport Authority, which twice in the past few days has had to close the airport after falls of snow totaling less than 1inch?
Or what about any of the local roads authorities, all of which were found wanting in the face of very minor snow totals?
But despite all those respectable choices, my vote goes to the Minister for Education, who first of all did nothing and allowed some schools to open when they shouldn't have, then in the face of some criticism panicked and announced - on Friday - that all schools would be closed this week until Thursday. Snow closures should always be day-to-day, especially in a place like this where you can never rely on the weather.
Thanks to the Minister's decision, thousands of working parents have to figure out how to have their children looked after while they're at work because there will no reasonable excuse for not getting to work tomorrow.
I expect all the roads to be cleared, thanks to God's intervention. The Minister either has to backtrack or live with the inevitable headlines showing empty schools and snow-less roads and sidewalks.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey because of his vanishing act - he was in Malta for the week - when all forms of transport were grinding to a halt in the face of our complete weather shut-down?
Or maybe Met Eireann - the national weather service - after they clearly blew the forecast for this weekend. We were supposed to be digging out from 10cm! (that's 4 inches!!) of snow today, but instead it's raining. And it's going to go on raining. There'll probably be no ice or snow left on the roads by the morning. Weather.com - based in America - called it right, but our local meteorology experts got it totally wrong.
What about the Dublin Airport Authority, which twice in the past few days has had to close the airport after falls of snow totaling less than 1inch?
Or what about any of the local roads authorities, all of which were found wanting in the face of very minor snow totals?
But despite all those respectable choices, my vote goes to the Minister for Education, who first of all did nothing and allowed some schools to open when they shouldn't have, then in the face of some criticism panicked and announced - on Friday - that all schools would be closed this week until Thursday. Snow closures should always be day-to-day, especially in a place like this where you can never rely on the weather.
Thanks to the Minister's decision, thousands of working parents have to figure out how to have their children looked after while they're at work because there will no reasonable excuse for not getting to work tomorrow.
I expect all the roads to be cleared, thanks to God's intervention. The Minister either has to backtrack or live with the inevitable headlines showing empty schools and snow-less roads and sidewalks.
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TheYank | Jan 13, 2010, 09:52 AM EST
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IrishEagle | Jan 13, 2010, 07:03 AM EST
Of course there's more to Ireland than Dublin, but that doesn't justify closing the schools state-wide. When the schools were closed in Cork & Galway due to flooding, did the schools of Leinster close in sympathy? No, that would have been ridiculous.
Same goes for the snowy midlands. If the schools need(ed) to close through tomorrow there, fine, but in large chunks of the country they were able to reopen with no fear of snow or ice causing disruption.
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kmcapture | Jan 11, 2010, 06:31 AM EST
There's more to Ireland than the city of Dublin. Try entering a rural area more than a mile from a national primary route - where most rural national schools are located and you will see why being closed today makes sense!! Even with the thaw we have today these roads will still be dangerous tomorrow & possibly Wednesday if we have any more sub-zero weather.
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