40 shades of green ... but is 'eco' one of them? Photograph: The Irish Image Collection/Corbis</small
The latest edition of Lonely Planet Ireland excoriates the country for having a carbon footprint twice the global average - our island is no longer the green and pleasant land we sold to tourists all over the world prior to the Celtic Tiger economic take off. "Ireland's 40 shades of green don't, it seems, include the all-important eco-green," it says.
During the Troubles the IRA used to regularly blow up the rail route linking Dublin and Belfast. The constant attacks on the most important railway line in Ireland prompted demonstrations and spawned a pressure group called The Peace Train. It become one of the many pressure points on the republican movement as it straddled the two worlds of "armed struggle" and normal democratic politics and probably helped in no small way bring about an end to that campaign.
But ask any frequent rail traveller between the two cities about the network today and they will tell you that the service is still far below the standards in Britain let alone the fully integrated, highly sophisticated rail networks of Europe.
It is not so much the fault of the rail staff or the companies that run the trains: they are courteous, hard working and always apologetic over the tardiness of the journey. The real reason is the appalling infrastructure on which the line has to run.
On Ireland's eastern seaboard therefore it makes more sense to get to either city by the new road link between north and south. It might be more "green" to travel by train but Irish commuters can get to Belfast from Dublin in under two hours guaranteed. The plight therefore of the major rail link on the island in contrast to the road (most of it now motorway) that at times runs parallel almost to the train line illustrates how the Emerald Isle is a nation of gas guzzlers and petrol heads.
The rail journey along the east coast, much passing by the Irish Sea on one side and mountainous, verdant terrain on the other, is also instructive about how Ireland has been transformed into a giant building site.
On a south-bound journey look to your right just after Drogheda, for instance, and between that town and the northern suburbs of Dublin you will see vast new private housing estates being built, virtual towns with no centre and no soul as more and more people search for homes close to one of the most expensive cities on earth.
There are, of course, still many green and eco-friendly attractions all around Ireland from the Giant's Causeway in North Antrim to the Dingle peninsula in Kerry. Ireland remains, as Lonely Planet noted last year, one of the friendliest places on earth, although usually now in pubs and cafes that legendary hospitality is delivered by someone working there who originates from Gdansk, Bratislava or Vilnius.
The trouble remains that to get to any of the major Irish beauty spots, especially those in the west like Connemara, requires the one thing that is responsible for so much environmental destruction: the combustion engine. The "west" is serviced by a comprehensive and de-regulated bus and coach service but judging by the girth of the usually elderly passengers with their gaudy garb of baseball caps, tartan trousers, Arran jumpers and sneakers they are more than likely to be ageing American tourists over visiting the "old country" rather than indigenous locals who prefer instead to streak across narrow roads at 90mph in the latest BMW or Audi - symbols of the machismo of post Celtic Tiger man!
These tourists spots in the west of Ireland might themselves be environmentally friendly, as well as being in stunning locations, the problem is that by visiting them you will have done your extra little bit for global warming.
