Radical decisions needed now

Full employment, buoyant exports, and high corporate taxes give an illusion that all is well. Clearly, our political leaders take a somewhat different view, if the noises around reduced or at least static spending budgets for government departments are to be believed. While this type of messaging is not new, there does appear to be a realisation that some headwinds in the international political and economic spheres will have to be managed carefully if Ireland is to maintain its economic progress. The 2008 economic crash took a decade to recover from, and many of the challenges facing us now can be traced back to underinvestment during that decade. House building collapsed and is still only in second gear compared to what is required. Likewise, infrastructure around water and energy is still sub-par and projects like the Cork-Limerick motorway are only now being initiated with completion at least 10 years away. Neither have we learned anything from the crash in terms of how to manage capital projects efficiently. The children’s hospital is the most visible example of how not to deliver critical infrastructure projects on time and on budget. If the proposed water pipeline from the Shannon to Dublin encounters as many cost and time over-runs, not a drop of water will arrive in Dublin before the middle of the next decade. The lack of energy infrastructure is stymying inward investment and while some view data centres sceptically, the reality is that they are an essential element of locking in many of our multinational investors, not to mention the fact that the general public is far more dependent/addicted to data consumption than they realise when they criticise data centre development.
Knee-jerk reactions to crises do not usually deliver good outcomes. Nevertheless, the need to vigorously pursue strategies that will relieve several of our most urgent infrastructure deficits is clear. Tinkering around the edges with our housing and apartment building requirements, and ext ending rent pressure zoning restrictions is an example, will not solve the main challenge of facilitating greater housebuilding capacity at anything like the speed required. Planning delays are one impediment. Radical solutions seem beyond the capability of conservative-minded politicians. Political opposition seems based more on ensuring failure by the current government incumbents, than any wish to solve the problem. Hypocrisy is everywhere. The most prominent objectors are often politicians of all kinds. Elsewhere, building costs and labour availability are seemingly insuperable impediments to progress. Both are solvable, if the political will is there. Much of the cost of housing is accounted for in taxes and there are surely international infrastructure groups that could build, not just houses, but new towns at speed. Radical outcomes require radical thinking and decision making. Is that where the real deficit lies?

Looking inwards, radical decisions are also required in our agriculture sector. We do not have one milk processor in the top-20 international dairy companies. While scale alone does not guarantee success and profitability, there is a reality that we have a dairy sector made up of mid-sized processors, with significant overlaps in terms of product range and market outlets. Synergies, far beyond those already in place, must be identified and a radical restructuring of the sector completed within the next five years. Unrealistic? Only if the general malaise of delay, inaction and procrastination that infects many aspects of our economic and social decision-making processes is also allowed to prevent the development of a world-leading milk processing sector.