Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)

Would the Government take any responsibility for what the Minister described as the unnecessary processes that have developed over time? We hear a lot of analysis of this and finally the Government appears to be cottoning on to the fact we have a real problem with delivery. We have been saying it in opposition for years - I try to be constructive and put forward alternative proposals for delivery of infrastructure - but it is only when someone like John Collison writes an article for a national newspaper that senior Government representatives seem to take notice. I understand from the media that Fianna Fáil backbenchers have been saying this for a long time as well. There is a form of fetishisation of bureaucracy in this country. We seem to love it and get caught up in it, but it may have gone too far. In some respects, however, that is a scapegoating exercise. Our problem these days is not money. It was always money but now it is delivery and this Government will be judged on delivery. The IMF said clearly that our infrastructure lags 32% behind comparable countries. It is a rich country that feels very poor.

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