Change needs to be afoot!

So much of our legislation comes from Brussels & Strasbourg, not Dublin, yet we lean in and engage with our Ministers, TD’s & Senators weekly, however our MEP’s much less so. Yet we have 13 Irish MEP’s representing our needs, many punching above their weight in a sea of 705 MEP’s across 27 members states.

Last week Galway Chamber President Dermot Nolan & I travelled with colleagues from across the Chambers Ireland network to meet with representatives, engage & lobby across the EU institutions.

There was a national agenda focusing on enriching the business environment. Topics included trade, talent, work visa’s, skills as well of course as the green & digital agenda, which are such priorities for Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen & to be fair, the business community at large.

We along with our colleagues from Sligo Chamber, were equally consumed with the deteriorating economic indicators coming from the North West Regional Assembly area, terms such as ‘region in transition’ and ‘lagging region’ are not ones we want as name tags for long.

Lots of positive change is being driven from the commission & the parliament around the topics of human rights, equality, good governance & so on. Legislation is progressing trying to play catch up on new & evolving technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence & gaming. There does seem to be an intent to level up those lagging regions or areas of economic or social concern across Europe, however that isn’t necessarily translating into success on the ground in those territories for a variety of reasons. Ability to deliver being one critical factor.

We were briefed on 13 new pieces of environmental legislation progressing at various stages through the institutions. These are building on a significant array of environmental legislation already passed & being interpreted in varying ways, by differing member states.

Here a clear frustration was obvious within the cohort of MEP’s we met & engaged with, the Irish systems as presently constructed are not in a position to deal with the significance of legislative change coming our way. It’s fair to say they haven’t been for a while. We are not alone in a European context struggling with this issue; however many member states have taken steps to level up, resource adequately, intervene and simplify interpretations of new legislation as it is enacted.

We have not.

Concerningly in the recent budget or murmurings from Government parties, there has been very little to indicate that these shortcomings will be dealt with.

That is a problem.

On global standards Ireland is a wealthy country, positive recent budgets have been buoyed by strong corporation tax revenues. Lest we forget these revenues are being generated through domestic & international investment in our economy. The leadership of these companies expect delivery on enabling large scale infrastructure, recent years have evidenced a lessened capacity to deliver on this infrastructure.

I don’t need to reference what projects are caught up in very narrow funnels of planning & delivery from the West, nor do I need to call out organisations, where actually many of the staff are equally as frustrated because they are caught in an interplay between legislative overwhelm & some political meandering – what I will reference & we will lobby for now more than ever is special intervention & significant resource reallocation to enhance capacity of An Bord Pleanala, our local authorities & in particular the Dept of Housing, Local Government & Heritage. Timelines for decisioning & delivery need to radically improve for Ireland. At a basic level obtaining projected timelines would be a good starting point & one clear message that came from Brussels was having statutory timelines initiated around An Bord Pleanala. The passage of time & uncertainty can be the biggest foe on any project.

Galway as an economic driver of the West is a brilliant place to do business, to live, to learn, to visit & to work. We want to ensure that richness continues into the future, however planning & delivery needs serious ramping up.

We didn’t need to travel to Brussels to understand this, however engagement there allowed us pin point more than ever what steps can be taken, that are in the power of the Irish Government to effect the necessary change. It’s not complicated, but just requires commitment?& adequate resources to the organisations who manage the funnel & effect delivery.

Galway Chamber, supported by many partners & our membership will push strongly for this change. #OurGalway