Mr. Andrew McDowell:

It changes country by country but there is no doubt that the financial and sovereign debt crisis during the past ten years in Europe significantly damaged the capacity of both central government and municipal authorities across Europe to develop pipelines of infrastructural projects. Capital investment was frequently the first area to be cut, including the human resource capacity to develop the pipeline of projects. Ireland is a particularly acute case in that respect. It is not unique but it is more evident in Ireland than in most other EU countries that, at local as well as national level, the capacity within individual agencies and Departments to develop pipeline projects was damaged. It is not always just a case of fiscal resources and financing capacity. Frequently, it is a case of the human resource capacity to produce a stronger pipeline of projects when the economy needs it.