Madam, – I refer to your Editorial (July 1st) in which you exhort the Government to be transparent as to the economic choices ahead and encourage public debate.
According to the director general of the Construction Industry Federation (Morning Ireland, July 1st) the Government had announced that it will expend €6.5 billion on public construction projects in the year 2010 but only €500 million of this is being processed. Projects which are to be undertaken in the year 2010 should already be in the process of design and consent. Anyone connected with the industry knows that they are not.
If the Government only expends €500 million on construction projects next year, another 100,000 jobs would be lost in the construction industry.
If the Government is reneging upon this commitment to save money next year at the expense of these jobs, it should say so and the issue can then be publicly debated.
If, on the other hand, the intention is to commit this money to public projects in 2010, the Government should realise that it is already too late to do so and should overcome its negligence with all haste.
Either way, the first step is an honest declaration on the part of the Government as to its intentions. – Yours, etc,