It Occurs to Me: Full steam ahead! Well, not in Donegal

Recently, I read with interest Michael McHugh’s feature showing a beautiful painting of the old Bundoran Rail Express and Chris McNulty’s piece about mechanical issues on an Express Bus from Letterkenny, which twice broke down forcing passengers to take a taxi to Dublin Airport, and which were reported to management earlier the same day.

It’s some 10 years ago since I had conversations with a number of bus drivers about the state of their buses and more crucially, the lack of communication with those entrusted to maintain them. Nothing has changed or improved since then. The bottom line is that no one in Dublin, including our politicians, with the possible exception of Joe McHugh, cares one hoot about the transport debacle that has long been the curse of the north-west.

Some years ago, in this column, I wrote: “On the aforementioned Dublin train, I was annoyed - not for the first time - to hear the announcement - “Last stop, Sligo!” This should give any self-respecting Donegal person the hump, since we’ve been discriminated against since 1959.

In my living memory, the CIE/Bus Eireann writ never ran north of Letterkenny! Half of a county in the Republic of Ireland was excluded from state public transport. It was the private Lough Swilly, now the McGinleys, Fedas, McGeehan’s, McGonigle’s, Busways, Gallaghers etc who ensured that our citizens got from A to B. And where the hell were our politicians when we were discriminated against for decades?”

The accompanying photo is part of a campaign by ‘Into The West’, chaired by Derry man Steve Bradley who has bluntly reminded us that “The 1950s and 60s saw a series of controversial decisions that left the North-West corner of the island of Ireland stripped of almost all rail infrastructure. That left Tyrone, Donegal and Fermanagh with no trains at all, and the west of the province of Ulster almost entirely erased from the island's rail network. Two generations have since been raised in Tyrone, Donegal and Fermanagh without access to a transport mode most of the rest of the island takes for granted.”

The West Ulster Rail Initiative
The other interesting feature of Steve’s map is the gap south of Letterkenny, an issue which has long been the impetus for the West Ulster Rail initiative, chaired by Revd David Crooks. As David reminded us in the WURI submission in 2017, “One only has to have the most cursory glance at a map of Ireland, to observe the fact that the triangle forming Derry, Dublin, Sligo and Derry is completely void of motorways and railways.” In 2019, he wrote to the Donegal Democrat and here are some of his impassioned observations:

“Sir,
Recently, I wrote a letter to this paper, which you kindly published, about the lack of proper rail and motorway infrastructures in the north-west of Ireland. How long have we in the north-west got to wait until we get here rail and road facilities that have been created all over the rest of the country – remember, 20,000 people in Donegal have signed the petition – they represent over 500,000 more in the north west if you include Derry, Tyrone and Monaghan. Others too have signed in their areas. Given time, thousands more could be obtained. People are always telling me just how wonderful it would be to have rail and motorway to Donegal.

"The people of Donegal and the North West are fed up with having to put up with this 1950s road system, when the rest of the country enjoys 2010s rail and motorway facilities. Travelling to Dublin last week. I was stuck behind a horse box from Strabane to beyond Omagh at 60 km/h before I could overtake it. There have been roadworks near Emyvale, going on for months, with no sign of being completed. Not only are these roadworks not straightening the road, they show no sign of being part of the M2 Dublin to Derry/Letterkenny motorway, which should be being built instead. North of Monaghan is outside the Pale as far as the Government is concerned. On the way back from Dublin, I was stuck behind a lorry from Aughnacloy to Newtownstewart.

"Why should we have to put up with this, when the people of Limerick, Galway, Cork and Waterford have motorways, The border is no excuse – in fact, it is the problem.

"Minister Joe McHugh and I started this rail and road campaign twenty years ago, and we have, quite frankly, got nowhere, whereas the rest of the country in that time has leapt forward in terms of road and rail infrastructure. Writing to Ministers and Taoisigh is absolutely no use. You get a reply each time saying that they will pass your letter on and months later, a reply comes, which says nothing more than that they have received your letter. That is insulting. Why should the people of Donegal suffer this from our Government, especially as we pay our taxes too. Don’t we deserve better?
The people of Donegal and the north-west have the same rights, and we demand them.”

"The absolute commitment and frustration is evident in Revd Crooks’ plea…surely, in this era of social media, the put upon commuters of the North-West should be rallying to his and Steve Bradley’s cause!

John West transport?
Evidence, if evidence were needed, of the desperate transport situation in Donegal was highlighted in a court case before Judge Larkin many decades ago, when a poor unfortunate from Mountcharles was summoned for driving a car “...while his power of control was diminished by the number of passengers” aboard. As well as being summoned for having no rear view mirrors and no rear light, Garda McDonnell said there were four passengers in the front seat, five in the back and two in the boot! Defending solicitor JP Ward said that the defendant was giving people ‘a hand out’ to which Judge Larkin responded: “He would qualify for a job in a sardine factory. It is the worst I have ever heard!”

I’m reminded of a great yarn from the Parish in Buncrana, where a poor divil with a big clatter of sprogs, squeezed them into an old Austin Cambridge on a Sunday morning and headed for Mass. The springs were gone on the left hand side, so when they came to a tight corner, he’d shout; “Right wains! All of youse move quick tae the right side and houl till her till we hit the straight.”

Mind you, I’m in no position to laugh at others. Finbarr Boyle was a great character who drank in what was then Bernard McNelis’s pub near the bridge in Carrick. On Sunday mornings, dad could pile a rake of his own ‘sardines’ into his wee Morris Minor and do the run from Bogagh to St Columba’s Church. One morning, Bernard asked Finbarr if there “...was anything exciting happening” on the streets of Carrick. Finbarr went outside at his leisure, looked up and down, and on his return, said: “Not much Benny, bar the Galligans are still getting out of the Minor!”.