Even as I type, the national broadcaster has just finished a feature on its Week in Politics show about one of the big concerns for Irish society in the next twenty years. Villages on the outskirts of Dublin, like Sallins in Kildare, Ratoath in Meath and countless others, have undergone massive and unprecedented growth in the past ten years as people working in Dublin but who have no chance of affording a house in Dublin buy in those villages and then try and make the best of it with no infrastructure, three hour commutes and all the rest of it.
A very fascinating and revealing piece, and hugely relevant to the electorate in the upcoming by-elections in North Kildare and Meath. This is a new block of voters who will wield unprecedented influence in what have been primarily rural constituencies before this. The only snag is that none of those new voters will have seen this piece of public service broadcasting that's so relevant to their lives because the National Broadcaster, in its wisdom, broadcast it at a quarter past eleven pm on Sunday night. If you're going driving to Dublin from Sallins tomorrow morning, you've been tucked up in bed long ago.
What did RTÉ have on when you were up? Fair City and that Gay Byrne Schooldays program. This has clearly been Kermit D. Frog reporting - what a bunch of muppets.
