Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will cite the example of a project where a local authority got a project done from start to finish in two years. I had the privilege of being Lord Mayor of Cork from 2003 to 2004. I had a very good city manager, Joe Gavin, there at that time. We had many properties rented for staff around the city. He wanted to do an extension to City Hall. He got companies to tender, design, apply for planning, build, finance and deliver the project. It was delivered within two years from start to finish. It probably cost four times less than had we gone through the process of waiting to be allowed borrow money and of what would be involved in Departments. There was a great saving for the State in building that additional accommodation in City Hall. Do we need consider a more expeditious way to deal with projects than our current structure? I accept we need to have checks and balances but they have extended from layer to layer within Departments. It is not helping the system. Is it time for a review?