Infrastructure – you wait for years for some action and then like buses two reports, an industry forum on offshore and a Head of Bill on grid resiliency come along within a week.
The Government in Ireland seems to have gotten the message.
Faced with an unparalleled housing crisis, and the slow realisation that lack of infrastructure is a contributing factor the Department of Public Expenditure published an update to the National Development Plan (NDP) and the results from their finding on barriers to infrastructure. Both are welcome documents.
The update to the NDP is what every Government Minister dreams about. Loads of money to be spent, moving well into the billions with little details on specifics which projects will actually constitute the infrastructure. The broad figures are that to 2035 the capital expenditure will increase to €275 billion. The spend to 2030 will increase to €100 billion and this will be on average 5.2% of Gross National Income (GNI). Every piggybank is being raided, all escrow accounts squeezed of Apple juice, climate funds and communion bank account scrutinised. On the week where the EU agreed to 15% tariffs on its goods to the US and Ireland having an export exposure of €72.6billion per annum these figures could be revised relatively quickly.
Money however, is not the only issue holding back infrastructure in Ireland and the thinking that throwing money at the problem will solve it is short sighted. The second report published by the Dept of Public Expenditure highlights the barriers – and some do not money at all to solve them, just resolve. I believe there are 3 key items to make infrastructure a success in Ireland as highlighted in this report.
Firstly, public perception. Government Departments are not the only entities commenting on infrastructure in Ireland. The IMF, IFAC, IMD were some of the others highlighting the infrastructure deficit in Ireland driving a lack of competitiveness. These reports have zero meaning or weight to people on the street. Indeed, any report coming from an establishment with an acronym is going to be met with glossy eyes (unless you are working deep in the industry and this gets you excited). People in industry point to these reports and expect the public to understand and engage, but infrastructure has a communication problem.
But, ask about Storm Éowny and the power outages-people engage.
Ask about beaches being closed due to effluent being discharge- the public understand.
Go to the pub and get a reaction from a recent hospital upgrade- people respond.
But the link that this is the infrastructure that we need to survive and thrive, in a world where we have to fend for ourselves is lost. There has to be a massive public campaign to link the infrastructure we need to the life we deserve. We have done it successfully with health campaigns, voting etc and we need to do the same with infrastructure. To create the link between the substation and the factory. Join the message between a water treatment facility and blue flag beaches. The public needs to see the link.
And politicians have to be held to account in this regard too – they cannot promote infrastructure within the Dail and submit responses against infrastructure at home; they must lead by example.
Secondly, fixing the process. The planning process needs a fixed timeline, the permitting needs to be linked across departments and the barriers to judicial review should be fair and apt. This is literally within the remit of Government and they have no excuse if they do not remove these barriers. In their Barriers report the Dept of Public expenditure highlighted that the “increasing number of judicial reviews….is having a chilling effect on every stage.. of the process”. This is coupled with “complexity and burden of regulator and policy requirements.
When discussing the magical abilities of Dynamo, Roy Keane dryly responds “well, that is his job….” (as in, why should I be impressed) and it is the same with Government removing these barriers in terms of progressing infrastructure. It is their job!
Finally, there has to be a relentless focus on digitisation and modular approach to building. The Irish Government has done a great job with their Open Data initiative, but it should go further. Water data, gas details, processing and permitting information should all be available digitally to speed up processing and permitting. The book “On How Big Things Get Done” by Bent Flyvbjerg – highlights that the more modular and cookie cutter approach to infrastructure we can adopt the better projects that are delivered within time and budget. We have massive digital expertise in Ireland, and initiatives such as Build Digital Project should be enhanced and expanded.
At the time of the Great Financial Recession when the IMF came to Ireland our capital expenditure was decimated. We are still playing catch up to this day. With further headwinds ahead this capital expenditure will become more important than ever, but it will take more than money to deliver the National Development Plan.
References:
4: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/Report_on_Engagement_and_Barriers_to_Infrastructure.pdf
5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeOlQFlsrZU&pp=ygUQUm95IGtlYW5lIGR5bmFtbw%3D%3D