Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There has been a great improvement in this area and major projects are now coming in not only on time but before time and on budget. The learning curve relating to this process was not sufficiently steep and we did not come to grips quickly enough with certain problems that arose. Some of these problems came about as a result of judicial reviews which arose on foot of people exercising their right under the existing system to delay matters. As a result of the opposition that was organised by people who had difficulties with particular issues — many of these have been well publicised — huge costs were incurred on behalf of the taxpayer. Perhaps that matter should be highlighted, particularly to those who state that we have the luxury to wait two, three or four years for judicial reviews etc. to be completed.

Delays do not always occur as a result of what the Deputy would portray as internal institutional incompetence but are rather caused by actions taken by people. We are trying to roll out a capital programme of a greater magnitude than any seen in the past. In that context, we must ensure that the statutory and legislative framework is such that it compares favourably with those that apply in other countries on the Continent which do not appear to experience the same level of problems as Ireland in this area.

We have updated the guidelines — which were originally drafted in 1994 — to take account of the factors to which I refer. It is not, as the Deputy suggested, all down to internal incompetence. As he is aware, a number of delays occurred which were outside the control of those managing the projects. Perhaps everyone would be better served if the costs involved in dealing with such delays were highlighted rather than suggesting that they are a luxury we can afford and a price worth paying.

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