A depressing statement
Cost to take priority over 'aesthetics' in future State infrastructure projects
,' June 27th), this surely rates as one of the most depressing statements ever made by a Government Minister.
It is breathtaking in its philistinism and extraordinary in its one-dimensionality.
Good design needn't cost a fortune – other European countries such as Austria, Denmark and The Netherlands seemingly have had no difficulty in constructing beautiful and interesting buildings.
An attractive environment also carries with it feelings of wellbeing and national pride. We are one of the richest countries in the world and can afford to build beautiful.
READ MORE
We are also one of most incompetent and inefficient when it comes to public projects, and that has little or nothing to do with the costs of aesthetically pleasing design.
The Minister might consider that public buildings have long lives and the ugliness that men do will inflict it on many generations to come. Dublin City Council's offices at Wood Quay and Kildare County Council's headquarters in Naas are just two carbuncles about which one has to apologise to bemused foreign visitors.
And these excrescences will be with us for a long time. Finally, 'design standards' are absolutely critical to the provision of proper and workable public infrastructure – they are not an optional extra.
If the Minister is worried about costs (and he should be – see the national children's hospital, for instance) he would be more productively employed sorting out the not-fit-for-purpose planning and public procurement systems, and the seemingly complacent attitude of many public authorities to tolerating vast cost overruns for all sorts of projects. – Yours, etc,
IAN D'ALTON,
Naas,
Co Kildare.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
22 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Government rules out cost-of-living package despite another surge in corporation tax receipts
The Government has ruled out a cost-of-living package for households facing soaring food bills, high energy costs and elevated mortgage rates despite another surge in corporation tax receipts. The exchequer returns, published on Thursday, show a strong surplus of €4.5bn for the first six months of the year, as wrangling over the budget is due to kick off in the coming weeks with the publication of the summer economic statement. The Government has already warned the next budget will be more restrained than previous years, as global economic uncertainty means it will be taking a cautious approach after a giveaway budget ahead of last year's general election. Exchequer returns for the first half of 2025 show corporation tax generated €7.4bn last month, up 25% on the same month last year. The Government pointed out that the overall surplus drops to €1.2bn when the proceeds from the EU Apple Tax case are excluded. The Coalition's proposed cautious approach to the next budget comes as households face increased financial challenges. Food prices are now rising by 4%, more than twice the general inflation rate. Households also face some of the largest electricity bills in Europe, and mortgage interest rates, while coming down, remain among the highest across the EU. Defending the decision not to include another cost-of-living package in the next budget to help families cope with soaring prices, Jack Chambers, the public expenditure minister, said the Government is aware of pressures on households but said there are other ways to support people aside from one-off giveaways. 'We need to balance the risks, which are real in terms of the economic context we are in, with the pressing needs that citizens have,' he said. 'Central to the decisions we make in Government would be the improvement of living standards and supporting greater affordability of public services.' Paschal Donohoe, the finance minister, said he had not anticipated the international volatility around trade rules and US tariffs. 'The way things are settling at the moment means there will be a new normal to come to terms with as global trade is going to look very different,' he said. Mr Donohoe also warned of a potential future decline in the corporation tax receipts that have helped the economy to record surpluses. Both ministers emphasised the need for a 'careful, sensible, and sustainable' approach to Budget 2026. The overall amount collected in tax in the first half of the year rose almost 7% to €47.7bn despite fears over the impact of US tariffs. Total spending was €58.2bn, which included payments of €3bn to the State's two long-term savings funds: The Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate, and Nature Fund. During an event last month, Mr Donohoe said that, in the event of an economic downturn, he would make every effort possible to protect capital expenditure, including using the money set aside in these two funds. In June, €2.9bn was collected in income tax, bringing the total receipts so far this year to €17.4bn — up €700m year on year. Corporation tax receipts of €7.4bn were collected last month, bringing the total for the year to €14.8bn. However, this drops to €13.1bn when the Apple tax case proceeds are excluded. This is still €900m higher than last year and 'slightly ahead of profile' for this year, according to the Department of Finance. Vat receipts were also ahead of projections at €11.6bn, which is 5.6% up on the same period last year. Excise duty receipts during June stood at €500m — up by €100m. Exchequer debt service expenditure in the year to the end of June was €2.2bn, down by €300m compared to last year. Read More Budget should focus on infrastructure and tax measures, says Central Bank governor
Irish Times
24 minutes ago
- Irish Times
‘Ireland is not anti-Semitic': Taoiseach rejects criticism from veteran US senator
The Taoiseach has rejected criticism of the Occupied Territories Bill from the chairman of the United States Senate foreign relations committee, describing the accusation of anti-Semitism as appalling. Idaho Republican Jim Risch said Ireland was on 'a hateful, anti-Semitic path' and that the US would have to reconsider the bilateral relationship if the legislation proceeded. 'I would reject any assertion that this is anti-Semitic. I'm appalled of that assertion and that's something we're going to correct,' Micheál Martin told The Irish Times. Speaking in Osaka during a four-day visit to Japan, Mr Martin said the war in Gaza was causing pressure on politics throughout Europe. But he insisted the Government did not have to choose between defending Ireland's economic interests and taking a tough position against Israel's actions. 'We've been very responsible in terms of looking at everything through the prism of humanitarian rights. I don't know how anyone can justify the blockade in Gaza. The reports we're repeatedly getting from UN agencies in respect of starving children and the slaughter of children, that is absolutely unacceptable,' he said. READ MORE 'It's not one or the other. We will work on our economic interests. We'll work to explain our position to interlocutors in the US and to the US administration.' The Taoiseach said he was encouraged by Donald Trump's 'absolute opposition to war' to hope that the US president could succeed in bringing an end to the killing in Gaza. Martin said that during his visit to Washington in March, it was clear Israel was galvanising opinion in the US against Ireland. 'We were getting feedback that there was a certain undermining of Ireland unjustifiably and endeavouring to position Ireland's opposition into the conduct of the war and the breaching of international humanitarian law by Israel, and labelling that as anti-Semitic,' he said. 'Ireland is not anti-Semitic. We've been very strongly supportive of international and global efforts to oppose anti-Semitism. We've signed significant declarations in that respect, but also in terms of our own education system, we've been very strong in terms of teachings on the Holocaust and the horrors of all of that. We would reject that very strongly, and that's a bit of a smear on Ireland.' Much of the focus of the Taoiseach's visit to Japan is on the bilateral economic relationship and Japanese investment in Ireland. Japan's population is declining by more than 800,000 every year and Martin said that contrary to anti-immigration rhetoric, Ireland's growing population is one of its attractions for foreign investors. 'I said it this week to a couple of Japanese companies, there is no issue with human capital in Ireland because we have access to the European labour market. It's been a powerful incentive, whereas tax would have been an earlier incentive. In the modern world, it's human capital,' he said. 'I acknowledge that our population has gone up by one-third in two decades. That's what's creating the pressure on services, creating huge demand on housing, but also on health services, education services. But there's something to reflect on that we're now, for the first time since the famine, over seven million people. To me, that's an extraordinary achievement by modern Ireland. It should be seen as an achievement.'
Irish Times
39 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Meet Paul ‘the Cooler' Coulson: One of the godfathers of leveraged finance
Why would bondholders offer to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to shareholders in a business set to wipe out some of its debt in a restructuring? In the case of Dublin-based Ardagh , the answer may lie in the man set across the table: a steely septuagenarian businessman nicknamed 'the Cooler'. Bondholders at the drinks-container maker are considering a demand from Ardagh's largest shareholder Paul Coulson to hand over $300 million (€255 million) to shareholders, in exchange for them walking away from the business and ceding control. The tough negotiating position comes after an early $250 million offer from these debtholders – mostly credit hedge funds – was roundly rejected. READ MORE While Coulson may at first glance appear to be a mere packaging mogul, it makes more sense to understand his stock and trade as debt. [ Paul Coulson faces last stand in battle to retain control of Ardagh Opens in new window ] Coulson is widely regarded as one of the godfathers of the European high-yield bond market. Ardagh has issued billions of dollars of junk bonds over the decades, forging new financial structures while minting healthy bonuses for his loyal bankers at Citigroup. And naturally, Coulson himself became a billionaire along the way, with the value of his Ardagh stake making him one of the richest people in Ireland. An accountant by training, the Cooler entered the glass business through the unconventional route of a structured finance play gone awry. Many in the Irish business scene counted him down and out when a disastrous deal blew up his aircraft leasing business in the 1990s. But Coulson was able to parlay a seemingly long-shot lawsuit against the bank that advised him on the transaction into a multi-million payout. The buccaneering Irishman ploughed the winnings into a humble Irish glass bottler (the Irish Glass Bottle company in Ringsend). Through shrewd deal making – and liberal use of leverage – Ardagh became one of the largest beer bottle and can makers in the world. Ardagh's capital structure has long been fiendishly complicated and in a constant state of flux. At the height of quantitative easing, Coulson broke new ground in the field of financial engineering by issuing 'super PIK' bonds that paid Ardagh shareholders a handsome dividend. Even as Ardagh's troubles have grown, Coulson's propensity for financial complexity has remained intact. Last year the company struck a controversial €1 billion loan from private capital powerhouse Apollo that shifted assets away from other creditors. While the proposal on the table means Coulson would have to bid adieu to the glass business he forged over decades, he would be in line for more than a third of the $300 million windfall if it comes off. Not a bad outcome for the owner of a business drowning in more than $10 billion of debt that it won't be able to fully repay. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
