Chaos at the Crossroads is a catalogue of the sloppy thinking, political chicanery and bureaucratic incompetence that characterise so much of what happened in Ireland during the boom years. It charts how the country was being wrecked by half-baked policies that fail, and are known to fail, whether urban-generated housing in rural areas, the relentless sprawl of our cities, the madness of the motorway programme, the scatter-gun approach to decentralisation, or the gross failure to observe our international obligations to combat climate change. Major controversies of those years are covered, from the proliferation of holiday homes in Donegal to the gas terminal in Mayo, the gross under-use of Shannon Airport, the toxic waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy, the plan to run a road over the Woodstown Viking site in Waterford, the height of the Dublin Port Tunnel, and the threat to Tara from the planned M3 motorway. The book also puts forward proposals on how to make urban life work better, how to get around cities and travel between them. It is a warning of what can happen if a blasé, to-hell-with-the-next generation approach is allowed to prevail. "McDonald has vociferously highlighted the flaws in Irish policy regarding planning, development and the environment ... he has provided a necessary counterbalance to the development lobby and most importantly has made us think about what we are doing to our environment. Together [with James Nix] they take the cause to a new level with a 400-page blistering attack on ... the Irish approach to planning and development. The purpose is a call to arms for outraged readers ... Given the importance of good planning for our future wellbeing, this book is required reading for all." - Peter Clinch, Irish Times
Author: Frank McDonald and James Nix
Publisher: Gandon Editions
Format: Hardback
Pages: TBC
ISBN: 9780948037139
Publication Date: 2005