James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I have a question on that. I am very interested in this and am of the view that there is a lot to be learned from history. Mr. Gibbons has just given us a very interesting insight. At the time that it was built, Ardnacrusha took up one third of the State's entire resources. What this shows is that sometimes it is worth spending multiples of billions on infrastructure projects where there is a long-term return for the State. In terms of the willingness of the public, they no longer have confidence in the Government or in the capacity of our State to go about undertaking these types of projects. That needs to be looked at in the highest echelons of the Civil Service. Since coming in here as an intern in 2016 and throughout my time as a TD, I have seen the corrosion of ministerial power. It seems to be getting harder and harder for Ministers to get things done. No matter what party is in government, there is an obligation on the political system to highlight that fact. I am very interested in the role that unions might play in that discussion. I am only a humble backbench TD, although I am very fortunate to be chairing this committee. I just wanted to make that point. We might come back to that if we have time. Next is Deputy Gogarty.