Boyle’s Law – life in a vacuum!

Lismore “Boy”, Robert William Boyle, was an inventor, alchemist, chemist and physicist. He was actually born in Lismore Castle, to the 1^st Earl of Cork. He led a privileged life and was sent to Eton College, England, to be educated at the very highest level and also spending time at Oxford. He published his own law, Boyle’s Law, around 1662. Because I paid no attention to “Big Jim Skull”, my Bell Baxter High School secondary teacher, I have absolutely no idea what use Robert’s Law does in today’s world. Or for that matter if I have ever used or come across his law – but I am sure I must have!

I do know that he worked with pressure, gases and vacuums. His worksheets, papers and books are all kept in The Royal Society archives. Vacuums were just great things, in the old chemistry lessons, and we all remember blowing up balloons, by sucking ALL the air out of that bell shaped glass vacuum.

We heard last week that the planning permission for the proposed Michael Street Shopping Centre development was also granted. Lecturer at WIT, Mr Ray Griffin, producer of a recent excellent WIT economic report on Waterford’s potential, was on WLR FM talking about the need for this development to go ahead. As we now expect, when we hear from Mr Griffin, he says it as he sees it, and he let the listeners know that we have been in a political vacuum for a number of years. This has contributed significantly to Waterford’s lack of actual real development.

Some might say that these were harsh words, however I totally agree with his accurate description. We have endemic problems that are not being addressed and until such times as we dig deep and see what needs to be changed, then change will not be made.

Whilst we are not living in a complete vacuum, we are to a greater extent, being pressurised by others, with greater political clout, to feed off the crumbs from the Department of Finance’s funding trough. But alas, we have been in the same political vacuum for many, many years and we do not seem to be getting any further forward? Are we just willing to accept yet another 3 or 5 years of others deflating our balloon?

Only a few months ago we heard that funding would be available for the airport, the hospital would get X, Y and Z, investment would be made in the City which would transform our economic future. The clock has been ticking very quickly since the last general election and now we have no more commercial flights in or out of Waterford Airport, the report on our hospital needs is now overdue, what is happening to our “University” bid and whilst other cities win European funding we are once again left wondering – “Did that really just happen!”

I cannot imagine Cork, Limerick or Galway standing back and accepting the same lack of funding that isn’t coming to the Sunny South East. We know that their political super heavyweights would simply NOT agree to anything else but the development of their City and Towns. They have political clout that is not affected by pressure and, trust me, they do not work in a vacuum.

Our competition box clever and fight for every Euro and cent that might just make their constituents’ life that wee bit better. They bang the table, have the ear of Kenny and Noonan, they threaten political revolt and have the cajones to barter a better deal for the very people that vote them into power.

Robert Boyle was a visionary of his time, with many, many sceptics who questioned his work and his findings. But Robert ploughed on regardless and is remembered as one of the founders of modern chemistry. 

Maybe we need to rekindle that “never say die attitude”, that Robert showed in his work, and make sure that we develop Waterford, not in a vacuum, but as part of our resurgent Sunny South East.

The last thing we need is another wee p*”@k bursting our balloon.