Matt Shanahan - Social Advocate

01/06/2026

Fair play Jim Power for highlighting the attractiveness of the regions when compared with Dublin living. And while he acknowledges that government is planning to promote regional enterprise to a greater degree consider this -

Last year Enterprise Ireland spent approximately 33 million euro supporting Irish companies to trade in outside markets. 33 million is the approx price to deliver the Waterford Airport extension - That’s one private sector project balancing all of the Governments annual investment in new export creation!

Forgive me for saying but the words ‘ambition’ or ‘growth objectives’ don’t exactly fly off the page of the Ei report.

Ireland as an agricultural country only produces 20% of its annual horticulture consumption - the rest we import despite being one of the best climate and soil ecosystems worldwide.

Could someone in Gov ring Dept Ag and EI and ask them to seek opinion from Irish growers about closing this gap -

33million in a 130 billion annual economy is hardly worth making a song about! Neither can it develop or sustain any job relocation from Dublin despite the lofty ambitions expressed by government.

As rising costs push people out of capital cities, housing affordability and quality of life make the regions more attractive

29/05/2026

Not actual photo, - for representation!

3 times in Waterford city today I encountered teenagers on electric bikes wearing full face coverings - one almost took me out while I was using a pedestrian crossing!

I see no reason whatsoever for the wearing of head coverings by these individuals, other than to obscure their identity - and please let’s not get sidetracked with conversations around religious face coverings.

These guys are riding on pavements and streets and are deliberately trying to avoid identification - it’s 20 degrees in the city today so forget about comments to ‘street dress code’ or other diversionary narratives.

In my opinion face covering while mechanically transiting urban / rural areas should not be allowed. If you are riding the public roads and footpaths regardless of your religion, your face should be visible and identifiable.

This street uniform is largely nothing more than a type of antisocial / anti establishment branding and it has no place on our streets, in our community’s or in our society in my opinion.

I would ask local and national politicians to pursue this issue - face coverings like these are sometimes needed to protect our police services and that is justifiable - but they should have no legal standing in my opinion to any other individual, group or community in the country.

We in Ireland are respectful of individuality, but this dress code to me is nothing other than a signal to intimidation, arrogance, aggression and antisocial behaviour and I believe it’s time legislation is drafted to outlaw this practice. In addition an Garda should be given powers to stop said vehicles and wearers and establish individuals identity without cause and seize property such as scooters etc wherever they encounter these individuals roaming on any self propelled or electric powered appliances.

Ireland is not a Stazi based state nor a South American or South Los Angeles ‘hood’ and we shouldn’t allow people ‘make-believe’ it is, offering opportunity of anonymity for the purpose largely of intimidation and commissioning low level crime.

And for parents who say ‘ I have no problem with my kid dressing like this’ I say what does it say about your ambitions for your child’s future or the concerns of your neighbour’?

Regardless my position is - We need legislation to control this. The sooner the better!

28/05/2026

The most creative footie is not always played on the turf -

Fair play Barry Heneghan TD for his support to delivering this key funding for his Dublin Bay North constituents.

Some make Promises - Others make Progress!

27/05/2026

discussion shows Dublin is now effectively gridlocked — and this didn’t happen overnight.

For decades, governments concentrated economic activity, investment, infrastructure and opportunity into the capital while failing to properly develop regional cities and towns.

The result?

More people forced to commute longer distances into Dublin.
More pressure on the M50 and surrounding roads.
More expensive “catch-up” transport projects.
More taxpayer money being spent reacting to a crisis instead of preventing one.

Meanwhile, many regional communities continue to lose:

investment
high-quality employment
infrastructure
population growth
economic opportunity

If serious regional investment had happened years ago:

fewer people would need to travel to Dublin for work
businesses could expand outside the capital
housing pressure would ease
congestion would reduce naturally
taxpayer money could be spent more efficiently

Instead, we are now spending billions trying to solve problems created by political short-termism.

Balanced regional development is not just a rural issue.
It is now essential for Dublin’s survival as an economic engine.

Ireland cannot continue operating as if one city must carry the entire economy.

26/05/2026

News headlines report a young teen taken into care after breaking up his family home because his parents tried to reduce his phone usage….. Now in state care, he is on his phone through the night till 6am, doesn’t leave bed until afternoon and his care team are afraid of him physically where they try to control phone access.

Now this may be an exceptional case but the issues it raises as to phone addiction in adolescents and minors and the algorithms purposefully targeting children is not.

One assumes dear reader you wouldn’t allow a pervert, a pa******le, an abuser, a groomer, a drug dealer into your house let alone your child’s bedroom and let them lock the door for hours - like it or not unrestricted phones access is allowing that very outcome.

There is already significant data outlining the negative and often severe consequences of unregulated phone access to our youth and it is no longer adequate to say let’s ban smartphones to adolescents, which will prove largely unworkable. It is past time we formulated a proper national response.

22/05/2026

I was glad of the opportunity to support the roll out to 24/7 on national radio.

But also to call for support from all south east oireachtas members for a proper review of why it had taken such inordinate time to deliver a service that clearly was mandated by clinical evidence going back to 2012.

Politics can be a dirty business as can medical politics, but when such interests disregards life and patient safety it should be rooted out and exposed.

When 24/7 for the South East is operational in Waterford I hope and expect our Regional Oireachtas members to support calls for such review.

RTE news : UHW cardiac care being extended to 24/7 service

Cardiac care services will be provided on a 24/7 basis at University Hospital Waterford from July.

21/05/2026

New data from Ember: When renewables drive gas below a 20% grid share in Britain, wholesale power prices crash from £130 down to £60/MWh, a 54% drop
>We're finally breaking the power that volatile natural gas prices have held over electricity bills in so many countries for decades
>Because of marginal pricing rules, the most expensive power plant needed to meet demand sets the price for the whole grid. So gas dictated everything. But superior renewables technology and zero-fuel-cost physics are completely disrupting that system
>When wind and solar surged in Britain last year and pushed gas down to less than 20% of the electricity mix, wholesale electricity prices plummeted to an average of £60/MWh
>When fossil gas ran the show at over half the mix, the price was £130/MWh
>Right now, 15% of Britain's electricity generation has completely decoupled from gas volatility. It's locked in under the Contracts for Difference scheme across 10 GW of operating wind and solar assets
>By 2030, that number jumps to more than a third of the grid. That means 36 GW of clean capacity acting as a permanent, iron-clad shield against international fuel price spikes

This isn't just a British story. It's a blueprint for energy planners anywhere in the world, from Berlin to Jakarta: If your grid relies on commodities shipped across oceans or through pipelines, you don’t have an energy strategy, you have a security threat while handing a blank check to foreign cartels

Ember report: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/british-power-prices-are-increasingly-independent-from-gas/

21/05/2026

National Audit Office says potential benefits are ‘considerable but uncertain’ while risks are ‘immediate and substantial’

20/05/2026

Interesting to see UK Spending Watchdog ask questions regarding state infrastructure spend of 38 Billion for a population approximately 12 times greater than that of Republic Of Ireland.

Is it possible such a headline would arise in Ireland questioning our blank cheque promise to project?

The proposed UK household cost to this project outline is approximately 1300 GBP per household.

A similar analysis of the impact of Metronorth to Irish households at 9 Billion cost is approx 4700 euro per household!

But if we factor in that more recent analysis suggests project costs could hit 15Billion this could mean almost 8000 euro per household nationally and were the project to go to 20Billion which is also a figure in circulation the cost becomes 10,400 euro for every Irish household or every Irish family!

It is somewhat unnerving that our UK neighbours are raising concerns regarding a 1500 euro exposure to UK householders (Taxpayers) while here in Ireland our state apparatus appears docile at the thoughts of household costs of between 4500 and 10500 euro to deliver this proposed infrastructure.

And if this cost was to be assessed in terms of personal 'quality of life' metrics, the facts are that for likely 70% and more of our national population, it would make absolutely no difference whatsoever in their day to day lives.

That is until one considers the opportunities 'foregone' in providing them critical infrastructure or services which will have disappeared at a cost of 4500 to 10500 euro to each individual family!

Ireland needs strategic infrastructure to power and project our economy forward - but that mission should not override our need to consider national benefit and national resourcing in a reasonable, measured and fair way.

Based on what our UK neighbours are pointing to, it must be obvious that we are already far along the wrong side of such a debate.

It also appears our systems to provide cost/benefit analysis of any value have been muted or cast aside in the drive to deliver on political promises - promises that on any metric will be among the most costly on all Irish families in many years.

The present 'flush' financial position of the state may make this project cost appear feasible and worthwhile - a future lens may well describe this as the pinnacle in Irish financial hubris as a result of excessive transient national tax take - the silence surrounding continues to be deafening!

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National Audit Office says potential benefits are ‘considerable but uncertain’ while risks are ‘immediate and substantial’

19/05/2026

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Rail?

Now there’s an idea - maybe buses too.

But considering we can’t charge the present fleet of electric buses mothballed for months in Dublin because no one considered the charging infrastructure required maybe it’s not fuel cells that are the problem but brain cells - and with them any sense of personal responsibility!

What is required now across state entities is the demotion and sacking of people clearly making spending decisions to which they have no experience, expertise or intellectual capacity to analyse or solve a procurement problem, other than throw state monies at it. Any culpable for spending more than market rate should be sacked - period - and with them any bosses or seniors who allowed or authorised them to act in this way.

We need commercial professionals with experience who understand what the job requires and know theirs is on the line to get it right!

Ireland presents as a first world country but clearly much of our public procurement is ‘second rate’ and worse.

It is time Government took responsibility and stopped ‘passing the buck’ - time for a new political slogan for state procurement officers -

‘Pour tax payers monies down the sink - say hello to the sack’!