What has happened to the State’s capacity to plan for and deliver projects of major national importance?

It’s clear we need major investment in a number of key areas. Housing and energy stand out.

The population of the country has increased from the 2.8m recorded in the census of 1961 to just over 5m today. We as a country have an unparalleled level of savings – they increased by €13bn in 2020 alone, to reach approx €100bn.

Interest rates are at historic lows, with the State able to borrow at below 1%. We have also developed a range of Irish companies with international reputations in delivering sophisticated construction projects.

Times were much tougher then – money was usually raised by the floating of a national loan for a specific purpose

Some of these are world leaders in project management and the delivery of major structures.

As we approach 100 years since the foundation of the State, we can see a national record of State investment establishing companies such as the ESB, The Sugar Company, Bord na Mona, Aer Lingus, as well as national airports.

Major programmes of public housing were undertaken. Times were much tougher then – money was usually raised by the floating of a national loan for a specific purpose. In the 1960s, a national planning agency – An Foras Forbartha – was set up to provide the analytical and intellectual basis for the physical development of the State.

Fast forward to today and we have tilted our housing policy away from families

In the 1990s, it was absorbed into the newly established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – most of its outstanding small staff were snapped up by private sector employers and a critical national gap went unfilled.

Fast forward to today and we have tilted our housing policy away from families and given significant tax advantages to outside funds with State-guaranteed long-term leasing income.

While we have neglected to follow through on the realisation that we have one of the best sites in Europe for a liquefied gas terminal in the Shannon Estuary, that would at least give us some options in countering our huge dependence on Russian gas, as was pointed out in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal and for which we as farmers are paying such a huge price in fertiliser costs.

The national gaps in identifying real priorities for action and mobilising the energy to deal with them are a striking indictment of both national politics and the senior civil service structure.