The Irish Examiner View: Why are we still playing catch-up?

It cannot be too long before students of management or public administration fill libraries with how-could-this-happen dissertations on the national children’s hospital. Decades in the making, this project, as yet to be credibly costed, symbolises the swamp where political point-scoring, self-serving professional interests, huge and growing public need, institutionalised indecision, evasion, and denial, as well as unassertive leadership — and recession — come together.

What should be a jewel in the crown has become a national embarrassment. The project also shows what can happen when momentum is lost, when focus shifts, and alternatives, long ago dismissed, resurface and distract.

Sadly, it also shows how we struggle with delivering major infrastructure. We may not be alone in this and the children’s hospital is not the only important project defying timelines. However, it is unquestionably the grand panjan drum of these promised projects, driving frustration and eating away at the national sense of competence. It will, unfortunately, do that long after its doors eventually open.

Every region has versions of the national children’s hospital. This weekend, many of those living along the Shannon must wonder it they can stay in their homes in the longer term. They are in a difficult position despite one promise after another to help them. The tens of thousands who, before dawn this morning, began the draining commute to a faraway job are in a similar if different trap. They have many hours, as they race home to try to say goodnight to young children, to consider their position but very few can see a viable alternative. One of the reasons many people find themselves caught in one version of this bind or another is the glacial pace around the delivery of long-trumpeted projects intended to make life more livable, to make it less stressful.

Tomorrow we focus on the impact of decades of underinvestment and what seems bare-minimum ambition on the road networks around Cork City and region. That network is no longer fit for purpose, it has been overwhelmed. Business interests say development has been held back. Those difficulties are exacerbated by underinvestment in public transport.

There are urgent needs: The Dunkettle interchange, the Cork-Limerick motorway, access at Ringaskiddy, upgrading links between Cork and Kerry, particularly the Macroom bypass. Though its more than 40 years since Jack Lynch was taoiseach, some of these issues were regulars in his in-tray.

Despite all that, there seems a political recognition that these projects should go ahead, which makes the pace of delivery more than frustrating. It also raises the possibility that we are focussed on issues that may be losing their relevance, especially around private cars and transport. Might it be better, say, to spend the money earmarked for one or other of these projects on a tidal barrier in Cork? Only time can tell, but by not delivering projects more quickly our capacity to be forward-looking is limited, we are always playing catch-up.

These issues are, even in a quickly changing world, all within our competence. Delivery would have an impact far beyond infrastructural. Let’s get on with it.