Irish Examiner view: If a job’s worth doing...
National Paediatric Hospital Development Board chief officer David Gunning (right) and project director Phelim Devine leaving Leinster House after they appeared before the Oireachtas health committee. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA
For much of the population, however, there must now be a sense of completion fatigue, with the date for finishing work on the new hospital delayed over and over again.
On that point, there might have been some clarity when Mr Gunning told the committee that main contractor BAM has now “shifted the substantial completion date” of the new project 14 times in just four years. He added that BAM now believes the project will be completed by the middle of 2025, almost three years later than what was last agreed.
Of course, it remains to be seen just how firm this date is.
Mr Gunning himself said yesterday that the board does not have confidence in BAM’s prediction, as there is no clarity or certainty on the timeline.
With that in mind, it is worth considering another observation from Mr Gunning — asked by the committee whether past performance should be considered when procuring future projects, the board chief said there was merit in the suggestion, adding: “I think it’s accepted in the private sector that your performance is your dance ticket, it’s your opening card for the next [project].”
If companies cannot deliver projects on time and within their budgets, then that should surely rule them out of contention for future projects.
That this idea even needs to be stated clearly explains a good deal about attitudes and behaviour when it comes to publicly-funded projects — not just the National Children’s Hospital, but many other instances of bloated costs and missed deadlines.
Funding for public projects comes from the Irish taxpayer and is meant to provide vital infrastructure for the benefit of all: Hospitals, schools, roads, gardaí, nurses, and so on. That funding should always be spent with an eye to getting the maximum value for the State, not for operators who cannot deliver projects on time and under budget.
Proposed new Garda structures which involve merging divisions continue to face sharp criticism, not least from sources within the force itself.
In the past, there have been suggestions that the proposed geographical divisions may mean some gardaí travelling for up to two hours to respond to calls in their new areas. There have also been repeated calls for improved resources to implement the new structures: Funding, personnel, and accommodation, are just some of the resourcing challenges identified by gardaí. Earlier this week, the Association of Garda Superintendents (AGS) told the justice minister and the Garda commissioner that the new merged Garda divisions are “unworkable”. Association president Detective Superintendent Colm Murphy also said: “In Operating Policing Model Divisions, our members are losing the links with local communities and with their personnel.”
This is a telling point, because being part of the communities it polices has been an operating principle of An Garda Síochána from its earliest days. When the force came into being over 100 years ago, its members were immediately encouraged to become embedded within their communities, and many gardaí did so by becoming involved in or founding sports clubs wherever they were posted.
In this way, they were more readily accepted in those communities, and the figure of the garda became a familiar local presence rather than a symbol of remote State power.
Ireland has changed immensely over those 100 years but, as an organising principle for a national police force, community involvement remains a valid approach. If anything the rising levels of civic unrest and public demonstrations in many parts of the country underline its importance.
Many of the challenges facing the gardaí, such as manpower, morale, and pay, are difficult but not insurmountable.
But if the garda is not part of his or her community, then that would be a serious break with a successful approach which has yielded benefits to all for decades.
Election narrative
Taoiseach Simon Harris is to travel to Washington DC next month to meet US president Joe Biden in the White House, where they will both speak at a ceremony which marks a significant anniversary.
It is 100 years since the US became the first country to recognise what was then the Irish Free State, so the Taoiseach and the president will mark a century of bilateral relations between the countries.
Of course, the historic resonance of this anniversary coexists with a slightly less elevated consideration — the benefit to the Taoiseach’s image. With a general election looming, being pictured with the US president in a celebratory setting will do Mr Harris no harm at all. His recent comments on immigration and homelessness have drawn criticism in some quarters, including in this newspaper, perhaps marking the end of the honeymoon period of his accession to the position of Taoiseach. He will expect that sharing a podium with Biden next month will be a welcome boost, though Israel threatens to sully Biden’s legacy as president.
As our political editor Elaine Loughlin writes today, it may be that he will visit the White House having called a general election in the aftermath of next week’s budget and having asked the public to elect the Government back in to deliver it. It makes one wonder: Will visiting a lame duck president for a few pictures really be value for the Irish taxpayer’s money?
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