Build it and they will come – but we can’t, with this red tape

Procurement paralysis is slowing down the delivery of everything from housing to motorways, with state bodies and regulators affecting delivery times

Across the country, construction companies are reporting that the number of commencements of critical infrastructure projects has fallen off a cliff in the past six months. The fallout from the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) and the National Broadband Plan (NBP) debacles has led to a procurement paralysis in the public bodies tasked with transforming commitments in the National Development Plan (NDP) for the roads, railways, schools, ports and hospitals the Irish economy and ...