AS I SEE IT
BY MARIANNE HERON
Getting things done is a very human endeavour. At its best getting, a good job done is an art form, satisfying the doer and benefitting those for whom the job was done. But it doesn’t always work that way.
Look at Donald Trump, signing executive orders by the dozen, engaged in a storm of activity he believes will Make America Great Again( MAGA). The practical effects of his doings, though, are upsetting international relations, disrupting world trade and supply chains with tariffs, cutting off humanitarian aid and tearing up agreements designed to protect the planet. Getting things done needs to involve doing the right thing in order to be beneficial.
Look at our own situation here, economically we do seem to be doing it right with a record 2.75 million in employment, unemployment down to 4.3% and a budget surplus of €25.4 billion ahead of last October’s Budget. (What happens in future given the threat to our financial health by Trump is another matter.) But in other areas, things are going nowhere very fast or else the wheels are spinning, hindering progress. Whatever is done it needs to be done effectively.
The newly elected Dail, far from tackling the burning issues of the hour, has been bogged down in the ridiculous Speaking Rights row, still unresolved weeks after TDs finally came back from holiday. Meanwhile, Dail committees won’t be running properly until after Easter to get on with business of getting things done. Just one symptom of not getting things done: parents were driven to stage an all-night protest outside the Department of Education over the lack of special needs places in schools.
Any hope that spring might energise some of the new ministers in departments plagued with wheel spinning? Not in Health anyway, where it’s the same old story; last month there were 600 waiting on trolleys in hospitals for beds and troubled University Hospital Limerick broke its own record with 138 waiting on trolleys in its emergency department.
How about housing, where the clogged arteries of the system delivered 6.7% fewer new builds than in 2023 – 10,000 less homes than the 40,000 promised and a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin now can cost as much as an eye watering €619,000. Happily, new Minister James Browne is starting to get things done which could be effective resolving the log jam of the housing crisis, as homeless figures soar to more than 15,000.
Browne spoke recently about measures he is beavering away on to unblock the system and deliver goals. His innovative plan involves a crack troubleshooting team who are going to look into cases where housing is not being delivered due to problems ranging from water issues to regulations and then remove the barriers. Excellent, something other ministers could copy too.
Implementing the Planning and Development Act and tightening up on judicial reviews which have held up the possible delivery of thousands of homes is another of Browne’s priorities. Increasing the amount of land zoned for housing under the new national framework is another. Changing the system where local councils allowed modular cabins, costing a tenth of traditional housing, in back gardens but wouldn’t allow them to be lived in makes sense, giving some of the box room generation the chance to have a roof of their own. So does making financial support for people renovating vacant homes more accessible.
The handling of international protection applicants resulted in a shameful mess, despite millions spent on outside consultants. Asylum seekers were left sleeping on the streets and waiting months even years for their applications to be processed, arousing protests when they were parked in large numbers in unsuitable accommodation. Now new Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan is cutting through the polarised rhetoric around the topic of migrants.
The minister said recently: “There are far too many people seeking international protection here who are not entitled to it.” Those arriving need to be properly accommodated and have their applications processed quickly. To prove the point, 32 asylum seekers from Georgia, whose applications were refused, were deported recently by charter flight. Maybe next time those turned down might be repatriated via scheduled flights – that charter having cost €102,476 .
The art of getting things done – rather than just doing things – shouldn’t only apply to ministers though. There’s a case for bringing the skill to our civil servants in their silos.
