Does this sound crazy?

[ulaire_daidoji]

What would happen if the Irish Govt were to start issuing punts again. Create our own currency, make it legal tender and use it to pay the public services and social welfare etc. Euros would still be legal tender and eventually the Punt would find it's real value based on demand for Irish goods and services. It seems to me that ability to devalue

Comments

[bastun_ie]

And in those places, you have wireless. Broadband isn't a public service, per se, but it is, in the 21st century, something that should be counted as part of every country's basic infrastructure, along with roads, rail, power, etc. The result of not having it is a disincentive to inward investment.

Did it really take 4 years to repave O'Connell St? Not that I'm saying it didn't - it was a bloody long time, whatever it was. And the sort of job it shouldn't have taken more than a month to do, if it was done properly.

But yes, public services in general need to be a lot more efficient. But with recognition that there might be outdated work practices in some areas, there's also overregulation in others. The hoops we have to jump through to buy stuff are wasteful and inefficient. Though the private sector would then kick up about us not being fair were we to start going out to tender for Software Solution X or Hardware Product Y because its a market leader, we know it, and it'll do the job we want well, rather than us having to dance around the houses not specifying a brand and ending up with a mishmash.

And there needs to be accountability. Proper contracts, with real penalty clauses. So we don't end up with more PPARS - but if we do, not only does the public service manager get the sack or demoted, but the company who promised they'd provide the solution picks up a major portion of the tab.

But these means centralisation and redistribution of resources between public service areas. To be honest, it's something the Department of Finance officials - and many public servants - would love. But our empire building politicians, not so much.

[lainey316]

Certainly I agree - it should be part of infrastructure, but it's not - I was only commenting on it in the context of the original mention of it. To get the penetration one would hope for would require government subsidy of the eircom investment (which I *think* does happen? but I'm not certain)

A month might be pushing it - I believe a large number of cables and pipes needed to be moved?

We all have procurement guidelines. Believe me, the amount of red tape we have to go through is painful. But a process is required for audit purposes and financial management. It's ensuring the process is efficient and reasonable is the hard part. To avoid the mishmash, general process I've seen is to specify in the tender "fits with the existing skills and capabilities of the {buyer's} existing support infrastructure" - we've had things rejected because clients don't support that platform for example, but again those were private sector clients and I'm not 100% up to date on public procurement rules. If you can make an auditable explainable case to explain why X or Y is the most suitable product, to avoid cases where X or Y is preferred because the supplier gave you a kickback or is your mate or whatever, then... but how would you put that together?

The problem with penalty clauses is that if they are too ardous, the supplier will walk away. The other problem - and it's not limited to public sector - is that what the client asks for and insists on turns out not to be what they wanted, and that's not the supplier's fault so legal wrangling about whether the penalty applies or not can go on forever, they are hard to enforce. And regardless, if a public sector project blows up then the PM etc just moves on to the next one - the supplier is forever known as 'that crowd who made a balls of Project X' - there's a negative impact even if it is not financial. I'm not against penalty clauses, but they are very complex and often come down to interpretation.

[ulaire_daidoji]

Planning for the renovation began in 1998.

First stones turned on the street, 2002.

OPW finishes renovation work (including the raising of the spire and cleaning of the statues) 2006.

Pathetic...