Ireland remains cash rich and service poor. That’s a big problem for this Government

An odd source of advice, granted. But as the Government parties try to figure out how to manage their affairs and those of the country for the coming 18-20 months in a way that paves the way for re-election, let us turn to the wisdom of Liz Truss.

Addressing the deluded and demented ranks of the Conservative Party after her stonking victory in last summer’s leadership election, Truss boldly declared her manifesto: “We will deliver, we will deliver, we will deliver,” she told the cheering crowd.

Truss delivered, all right: the shortest premiership in British history, illuminated by hitherto unseen levels of idiocy in Downing Street (despite some stiff competition on this front from her immediate predecessor); a financial crisis, with the Bank of England intervening to prop up the currency, and interest rates spiking; humiliation for her country; and quite possibly the next election for Labour.

But what Truss meant in those bright, promise-filled days – well, hours – when she warbled on endlessly about delivery is something that is understood by every politician and is of concern to the present Coalition. She was talking about: cutting through the faff and getting things done. Producing results. Showing product. Making a tangible difference in the lives of voters.

Joe Brolly and Sinn Féin are sick of experts. Have any of them heard of Brexit?

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In the goldfish bowl of the Taoiseach’s office, it was clear Varadkar’s focus had drifted

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Is Ireland compassionately centre right or cautiously centre left? A lot hangs on the answer

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This is the challenge that now faces the Coalition. But time is not on its side, and the signs of progress are decidedly mixed.

Recently Dublin was ranked worst for public transport among 30 European capital cities by Greenpeace. Anecdotally, the real-time information system at Dublin bus stops and on the app seems to have stopped functioning

Take public transport. This is a make-or-break issue for the Greens. Not just because of its importance for reducing carbon emissions, but because of its role in making life, especially urban life, where the Greens win most of their seats, more pleasant, convenient and liveable. Eamon Ryan, let us not forget, is the Minister for Transport, as well as the Minister for Climate Action. But will he really be able to say that your public transport experience is noticeably better in 2025 than it was when he came to office in 2020?

Recently Dublin was ranked worst for public transport among 30 European capital cities by Greenpeace. Anecdotally, the real-time information system at Dublin bus stops and on the app seems to have stopped functioning; it is certainly useless in my occasional experience of the service. In the wake of the Greenpeace survey, members of the public shared their experiences with the Irish Times. Few were positive.

One said she “can’t count the amount of times I was late for work because the bus didn’t show up ... Many times I had to walk alone home because the night bus didn’t show up and the taxis were just too busy to accept the rides.”

[ ‘I had to walk home alone because the night bus didn’t show’: Your public transport tales ]

Another said he had “lived all over the world” and had “not seen anywhere as bad or as expensive as Ireland”.

“No one wants to drive into the city, but the reality is the bus is so unreliable and expensive that almost everyone will choose to drive.”

The other great passion of the Greens is cycling and walking infrastructure. But the progress on moving from announcement to achievement is in many cases glacial. The question Green Ministers need to ask themselves is: what can they do to expedite things?

Readers have already been briefed on the tardy efforts of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to replace a few hundred yards of the existing cycle lane on the Clonskeagh Road with a swanky new cycle lane. They will be shocked to hear that the company so expertly selected by the local authority is now in liquidation, with the job dangerously half-finished. Just because this isn’t Eamon Ryan’s fault doesn’t mean he won’t get the blame for it. Many of the Greens’ projects and policies won’t come to fruition for years. But they need some that can. Cycle lanes shouldn’t be beyond them.

More homes unbuilt, more people without them. Everyone calls it an emergency, but the system doesn’t treat it like that

Housing is almost the quintessential example of where delivery is everything. But this week we learn that it’s taking more than six months to sell a house to local authorities so that tenants can stay in it. The Irish Independent reported that only four out of 199 applications in South Dublin County Council have been completed in the past year.

A few weeks ago I reported on conversations with builders and developers who are tearing their hair out over delays at An Bord Pleanála. This week, Jack Horgan-Jones revealed that the number of planning cases handled by the board had fallen by half in the early months of this year. The backlog awaiting decisions there includes applications for 27,000 homes. Meanwhile, one of the developers has been in touch to say he has been refused permission for a smallish scheme of houses and apartments in a midlands town – so he’s off to An Bord Pleanála for a couple of years now. More homes unbuilt, more people without them. Everyone calls it an emergency, but the system doesn’t treat it like that.

Talking to foreign diplomats and correspondents, they often say they cannot square the disconnect between the wealth of the country and the poverty of services such as transport, housing, childcare and health. Bridging the gap between these requires delivery – but often that proceeds at a snail’s pace.

This week the secretaries general of the government departments are all in London for informal discussions with their British counterparts in Whitehall. This is a worthy endeavour, as Anglo-Irish relations continue to recover from Brexit lows. And no doubt some Liz Truss stories will be told. But perhaps on the flight back the Irish mandarins might discuss how to make government work a bit quicker, to deliver things a bit more urgently. The fate of their current political masters depends on it.