Irish Examiner View: Let’s become intolerant of delay culture

The pace of change in this country is frustrating

Building works taking place on the site of the National Children's Hospital in Dublin. A project dogged by problems, disputes, and delays. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

As Bertie Ahern's reconciliation, official or otherwise, with the party he once led seems to gather some modest momentum there will be renewed scrutiny of his legacy. Whether that reconciliation survives that scrutiny is subjective but one judgement he made many years ago still stands. He once echoed the frustrations of an exasperated society when he complained that it took far too long to get things done in this country. How right he was and, unfortunately, how right he still is.

Mr Ahern has particular authority on what might be described as Ireland's flagship for delays and missed deadlines, the as yet undelivered National Children's Hospital. He played a central role in the selection of the site and, coincidentally, his constituency was deemed the ideal location. The current prediction suggests that the hospital might open in time to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1993 proposal from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland for a single, tertiary children’s hospital for Dublin. However, the pandemic and an ever-more fraught relationship between the contractor Bam and health authorities jeopardise even that three-decades timescale.