Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In terms of the firepower various Departments have, we are certainly lacking on the HR front. We do not have enough people in certain sectors. There is sometimes a lethargy and delay in getting things moving. I have a few questions in that vein for both Ministers. We have pretty rigid procurement rules and tendering processes determined by the European Union for larger projects. Is there now an argument that we should sometimes be tendering beyond the European bloc, or could that argument be made at the Council of Ministers? What we are seeing with infrastructural project delays is not unique to Ireland. It is pan-European, yet the Asian economies are able to expedite projects much more. It is not always done in the same ethical ways or with the oversight we have, but there is surely now an argument to look at the Turkish construction sector, which is quite famous around the world. They are known as economy builders. Can we look at that?

Turning to the Minister for Finance, the means test for carers s a major plank of the programme for Government. Will he consider front-loading that in budget 2026, as opposed to staging a reduction of the means test across five budgets? It would be a massive goodwill measure to bring in in the next budget.

To the Minister for public expenditure and reform, projects around the country were stalled last time, particularly in the Department of Transport. He did excellent work to try to restart and keep some of them alive. One of them is the Limerick northern distributor road, which comes through a lot of County Clare. Phase 1 of it will soon be completed but phase 2, through my home village, just does not exist and will not exist for at least a decade. It is like the road in the Road Runner cartoon. Deputy Chambers is too young to remember that, but Deputy Donohoe might remember it.