The Government should appoint a "political person" to implement the national development plan and not establish another "quango" such as the National Infrastructure Body, the Dáil was told.
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said that a political person needed to be appointed to drive the implementation of the plan. Another quango or piece of bureaucracy would not suffice.
He said the development plan was diffuse, and several Ministers were involved in its implementation. There was no evidence that anyone had been driving the plan politically in its early life during the boom years, "and we are now left in a logjam".
But the Taoiseach rejected the proposal and said that a Government Minister was the political head of his or her department and was involved in the direct implementation of projects, whether they be schools, hospitals, roads or any other infrastructural development.
He pointed out that "better value for money outcomes" were being promoted through multi-annual programming and other methods to keep capital spending in line. Mr Ahern added that 30 major road projects had been completed in the past three years, totalling 231km.
The national infrastructure board is being established to fast-track planning and surmount severe delays on major State and private projects, and the Taoiseach said the Bill would be published by Christmas and discussed in the Dáil at the next session.
The issue was raised during Taoiseach's questions when the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, asked why the proposal to introduce a national infrastructure body was not mentioned in the 111 items in the Government's legislative programme or due to be published.
He said the national infrastructure body seemed to have arisen from the realisation that major projects around the country had been over cost, over budget and over time, "principally because of swans, snails and the occasional person hanging out of a tree in the Glen o' the Downs".
Mr Kenny asked if the board would cover projects such as incinerators or major chemical installations, or did the Taoiseach envisage it dealing with the electricity and gas grids? He also asked what measures there were to distinguish between "crank and valid objections".
The Taoiseach said he could not pre-empt discussions on these issues within the Department or the Cabinet. The board was designed to deal with major infrastructural issues.
