Government business is cranking up a gear after the summer break and the Coalition is entering a key period in its term. Slow to get going after its formation, the Government now faces the job of showing that it can actually get things done, rather than just laying out a series of plans and intentions.
New strategies on housing, competitiveness and the public finances are promised and negotiations on the budget for 2026 are entering their crucial phase. But there is still a lingering sense of a lack of drive and cohesion at the centre of the administration – of it responding to events rather than shaping then.
If this is to change, then now is the time. Because if the Government does not make real progress in areas such as housing and infrastructure soon, there will be nothing to see by the end of its term. And at that stage there is no guarantee that the public finances will be as flush as they are now.
Vast resources have been set aside to fund the revised National Development Plan and we are told to expect more detail on the projects involved in the coming weeks. These need to be coherent and based on a developed spatial strategy, rather than the outcome of a bidding war between departments. And the public needs to be reassured about delivery.
RM Block
Here, planning remains a central issue. As the new Planning Act is gradually implemented, the problems it is designed to address remain all too clear. The vital Dublin Drainage facility planned by Uisce Éireann was delayed for seven years as a result of a previous legal challenge and now the decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála to give it the go-ahead is itself subject to a new legal challenge.
Major projects of national importance simply cannot be subject to such a long, drawn-out process. It is not serving the wider national interest. That the new Planning Act may not fully address this is indicated by the Government’s decision to ask a new committee – chaired by former Glen Dimplex chief executive Sean O’Driscoll – to examine infrastructure delivery. It is surely safe to say that if changes are not made, big projects such as the Metrolink will remain a pipe dream.
Ireland is badly hampered by its infrastructure problems . But it is fortunate to have public finances that are the envy of most other EU countries, many or which are scrambling to deal with budgets deficits.
This gives the State the opportunity to invest, albeit with inevitable trade-offs in other areas. But it also underlines how vital it is that the money is spent wisely and delivery is expedited.
Ireland may be lucky enough to maintain healthy corporate tax receipts, but the dangers are all too clear. The Government has a window of opportunity. It must use it. Otherwise, in a few years’ time, the chance to make a defining step forward may well have been lost.
