Irish Examiner view: Striking the right balance on issues of sovereignty 

'There was a historic encounter between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and British prime minister Andy Burnham on Friday.' File picture: Oli Scarff/PA

There was a historic encounter between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and British prime minister Andy Burnham on Friday. Their first meeting as Taoiseach and prime minister, it took place far from the traditional English venue for such encounters, No 10 Downing St.

The meeting was in No 10 North in Manchester: Mr Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester until recently and established No 10 North with the intention of creating a regional government hub that would shift decision-making away from the traditional power centre in London.

It is not known at the time of writing whether Mr Martin made notes at the meeting for a similar initiative for his native Cork, but Northern Ireland certainly formed a key part of the two men’s discussions.

Mr Burnham recently ruled out the possibility of a vote on Irish unification, for instance, but that short-lived political controversy was soon overtaken by events — or by the US president, to be specific.

When Donald Trump visited last weekend, he said he “would love to see it [Ireland] unified”, and his unexpected declaration was no doubt one motivation for Mr Martin and Mr Burnham underlining their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement on Friday.

The Taoiseach may already have more pressing calls on his attention than this, however. France’s minister for finance Roland Lescure has called for the revenue Ireland earns from multinational tech companies to be “redistributed” more fairly among European countries because it is derived from income generated across the continent.

The remarks came on the eve of EU finance ministers convening in Dublin this weekend under our EU presidency, and should make for some lively small talk. The irony here is that the Government may have to stress its sovereignty and independence at meetings with EU colleagues to a greater extent than in meetings with the British prime minister in Manchester.

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Stricter oversight of IT system schemes a must

We have grown accustomed to the slow progress of our large-scale infrastructural projects. Whether it is the National Children’s Hospital, Cork’s event centre, or the Metrolink, long delays and spiralling costs have become painfully familiar to us in recent years.

Now we also seem to be encountering difficulties in developing various online systems. Readers will recall the Arts Council’s botched IT system, which ended up costing the taxpayer €6.5m, while the HSE’s use of paper records and unconnected databases means the State must spend €2bn on a long-delayed electronic health record system. Two weeks ago, Irish Rail fired Spanish multinational Indra Sistemas, which had been developing another delayed IT system — to manage train movement on the rail network — and is preparing a legal case for damages.

This week, the Irish Examiner reported that the University of Galway has spent €10.6m on a student record management system that remains “uncompleted” three years on from its original deadline.

This is an enormous sum for a university to spend at a time of financial challenges facing the sector, and drilling into the detail raises some familiar issues. For instance, the university has spent over €500,000 on contract dispute resolution relating to the project, including mediation, legal review, and consultancy costs.

The university also allowed its contract with the IT firm originally tasked with delivery of the project to expire in 2025 after mediation was unsuccessful, but the university made a final payment of €3m to the company — and a further €324,000 in exit plan fees.

If “building cost inflation” has become a well-worn justification for our building projects increasing in price, our online infrastructure projects seem bedevilled by a variety of factors which hike costs. Any sector in which €324,000 can be paid out in exit plan fees needs far stricter oversight.

Culture Night an inclusive innovation

Last night was Culture Night all over Ireland, which must be one of the best and most inclusive innovations of the last 20 years.

Since it began in 2006, the annual event, run with local authorities, a variety of institutions, and countless individuals across the country in the arts and culture sector, has engaged people, fired imaginations, stoked new interests, and created audiences all over Ireland.

There are events online and in person which are broadcast widely and experienced locally, the opening hours are flexible and accommodate night owls, and, perhaps most significant of all, the activities are free.

This last attribute should not be underestimated. There can be a sense with some of the arts that cost creates a barrier to full participation, and one of the triumphs of Culture Night is that it allows all to attend events, irrespective of wealth: It has a wonderfully democratising spirit.

The idea of Culture Night has come a long way since it was first celebrated in 2006. Back then, it was an initiative of the Temple Bar Cultural Trust and Dublin City Council and began as a low-key local event which saw 40 venues opening free and late in the evening in Dublin’s Temple Bar area.

The following year it expanded across Dublin, with over double the original number of cultural institutions participating, and by 2008 Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford became part of the scheme. Since then it has spread across the island — and beyond, to Inis Meáin and Tory Island. Long may it continue.

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