Infrastructure

Government to review spending rules as concern mounts over delayed projects

Lengthy checks and balances are being blamed by ministers for slowing down large public infrastructure projects costing over €100 million

Costly checks: Dunkettle interchange in Cork is the only major road development that has been started since June 2020

The government is reviewing the amount of red tape involved in public infrastructure projects over concerns that the process is so slow that nothing is being delivered.

Tough new spending rules were introduced to prevent a repeat of the delays and cost overruns in the National Children’s Hospital, where the budget has already doubled in price to at least €1.7 billion. But these lengthy checks and balances are now being blamed by ministers for delaying ...