SFA want infrastructure supremo

THE chairman of the Small Firms Association has called for the Government to appoint a National Development Plan supremo to deliver major infrastructure projects.

Angela Kennedy told the SFA annual conference the appointee should not hold an elected office and should be accountable to Government, the public and business to deliver the plan on time and within budget.

She also roundly condemned moves to have the ban on below cost selling removed. She said, as chairman of Bord Bia, she was very afraid that the consumer was taking a one-sided view on the issue.

In effect, if the ban goes consumers can expect Tesco to significantly up their own-brand range of goods, which it has already done.

The country will face a significant import of foreign foods and will see the choice of goods and shopping experiences severely curtailed if the ban is lifted.

Back on the issue of delivery of the national plan, Ms Kennedy said it should not make the same mistakes as the first, citing delays in delivering the LUAS and M50.

In the final analysis, she said that unless somebody was made accountable for day-to-day management of a new plan, we would end up with many unfinished projects.

She also accused local authorities of failing to face up to their responsibilities for delivering solutions to problems such as waste, public transport and housing, while at the same time using business as a ‘money tree’ to fund their own spending.

Their budgets have quadrupled in recent years while Irish business is paying for about 60% of the expenditure they get involved in, she said.

Ms Kennedy was speaking at the opening of the Small Firms Association whose theme this year was ‘Dare to Dream’.

Sharing that theme was Mark Durkan, leader of the SDLP, whose theme was A Better Way to a Better Ireland.

Mr Durkan quoted from the late Martin Luther King, who said “progress does not roll on the wheels of inevitability.”

King knew the power of daring to dream but also knew “the importance of daring to deliver”, said Mr Durkan.

On practical issues of how this island can progress, Mr Durkan believes if we stand together much can be achieved, especially in the area of infrastructure.

Over the next 10 years up to €100 billion may be spent on the island’s infrastructure.

“We are in serious danger that the biggest infrastructural spending ever undertaken on this island will be done back to back with billions spent without co-ordination.”

It was imperative that this spending of tens of billions was done in a co-ordinated fashion in the interests of the entire island.

Such an initiative could save the island huge amounts in the process, not to mention the huge goodwill and the strong links that will follow from the combined effort, he said.