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Tarik Cyril Amar
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Adam Makary
The Department for Infrastructure is failing – is it simply too big to function?
The Department for Infrastructure is not just failing on roads and public transport.
Its other main responsibilities, NI Water, planning and flood prevention, are also a disaster – sometimes literally so.
Despairing observers are asking if the department is simply too big to function. Sinn Féin minister John O’Dowd, a veteran of the executive, is only the latest incumbent to lose control.
Sinn Féin Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd is a veteran of the executiveStormont merged its 12 former departments into nine in a 2016 reorganisation. This was an impressive administrative achievement, delivered to a tight schedule.
Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Tyrone any more
Unionists have pulled the Stormont brake, but there’s no need for it to create a crisis - The Irish News view
It would be a pity to have to reconsider it and start multiplying departments again. Besides, planning was the only major function the Department for Infrastructure gained in the reorganisation.
The obvious alternative would be to pass some of its powers to councils. Responsibility could be transferred for local roads and pavements, local buses and more aspects of planning and regeneration.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK or Ireland where local roads are not the responsibility of local government.
As far as I can establish, it may be the only place on Earth where this bizarre situation applies.
- Newton Emerson: Why not copy rest of world and let councils run roads?Opens in new window
- Has John O’Dowd run out of ideas to ease Belfast’s traffic chaos this Christmas? - The Irish News viewOpens in new window
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In a panicked response to traffic chaos in Belfast, the Department for Infrastructure is temporarily allowing all taxis into some city centre bus lanes.
The decision has been condemned by transport experts, who........
© The Irish News
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