John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister and his officials for joining us today. I certainly echo the sentiments of Deputy McCormack in fully supporting the N52. I have made the case that we need to open up the midlands from north to south. We have built several motorways from east to west and we have the M50, but we have nothing through the spine of the country. Realistically at this stage, from the N7 to north Longford, we should be opening up that whole area. If I am in Portlaoise or Tullamore today and I want to go 60 km east or west, I can do so in half an hour. If I want to go north or south, however, it takes double the time. We need to open that up.

I wish to give the Minister a couple of examples that have landed on my desk in recent weeks. One such example is a school that has been in discussions for additional SNA capacity for ten years. PE halls are being transformed into classrooms while they wait. There are economic implications with this as the cost has increased from approximately €1 million ten years ago to multiples of that figure today. The school is awaiting immediate action and decision-making, but they are not forthcoming. There is growing frustration among principals and boards of management when it comes to decisions on the likes of classrooms.

The same applies to the likes of a library. Realistically, from the first day to the last day of the project, when membership card holders can actually go through the door, we are talking about a decade. It is simply just too long.

With regard to housing, in Edenderry, 2029 is being mooted as the delivery date for additional capacity in the waste system. The options given to private developers in the area are simply unviable. It is creating an element of frustration, whether that be for the principal, the county council or the housing developer.

A lot of the talk we have focuses on time and financial efficiency in how we want to deliver these projects in the most appropriate timeframe for the best value for money. The question I have, however, is how we are going to instil confidence and change the culture from a can't-do attitude to a can-do one. There are constant deliberations, whether they be with Uisce Éireann or the local authorities. At this stage, it is perfection getting in the way of progress.

I had a situation recently where there was a development of ten houses that were left idle for six months while there was a debate going on between the developer and the local authority about the wording and interpretation of it. Meanwhile, the approved housing body and the county council housing section are beating developers’ doors down to get people into them. This is a cultural issue as much as it is a time and financial one. We can draft all the policy documents in the world but unless we have a strategy and an approach to change the culture, I am concerned we are not going to regain that confidence from the likes of the principal, the community development group and so forth. Has that been discussed? I appreciate we are now one year into a potential – hopefully – full Dáil term. The Minister’s task force has been in place since April trying to accelerate this. Have there been any discussions around culture and how we can change that?