Quinn proposes minister for infrastructure post

The Labour Party would appoint a minister for infrastructure if elected to Government, Mr Ruairí Quinn said today.

The minister, who would be head of a new Department of Infrastructure spawned from parts of the Department of Public Enterprise, "would not necessarily have to be from Labour, as long as they were competent," he said.

This Cabinet post would have full responsibility for implementing Labour’s proposed National Spatial Strategy, a programme begun last year that is designed to link the whole country’s transport system by 2015.

This would redress the inequalities between East and West and maximise Ireland’s potential, he said.

Mr Quinn claimed the Government had "failed spectacularly" on the infrastructure, describing the National Development Plan as an "unconnected and unrelated set of proposals" that is already hopelessly behind schedule.

The "unprecedented" level of resources of recent years had been squandered by the Government through mismanagement and "unwillingness to commit adequate resources".

Long-term planning in conjunction with other Departments would be emphasised, preventing scenarios such as that in satellite towns such as Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, where schoolchildren were being taught in temporary structures.

This happened because the Department of Education was not informed of massive housing growth in these areas and failed to build new schools to cope with the population boom, he said.