On Tuesday Minister for Finance Jack Chambers ducked the issue of what the State should do with the € 14 billion in back taxes that Apple must shortly pay to the exchequer.
In the run-up to Budget Day the Taoiseach had indicated there would be clarity on where the money would be spent. Instead, Chambers promised to bring forward a framework for how it would be dispersed by early next year.
The obvious conclusion to be drawn from this is that the three Government parties could not agree on what to do with the money. The equally obvious consequence is that the fate of the Apple money will now be an issue in the general election, which could come as soon as November.
Pushing out the decision is, on balance, the wisest course of action, if for no other reason than that whatever plan was announced on Budget Day would have been promptly ripped up on the election trail. The Government parties and their rivals all now have a free hand to present their ideas to the electorate. With luck, whatever emerges from the process of government formation that follows the election will produce a workable synthesis of the better ideas.
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Whether by accident or design, this will convey a certain democratic legitimacy on how the biggest single financial windfall in the history of the State is spent.
It will also allow the parties some space, if they wish, to start thinking about how the money will be spent and not just where.
In order to extract the maximum value for the taxpayer, two wider issues have to be addressed. The first is the question mark that hangs over the State’s ability to manage a mega-project, never mind two or three at the same time.
The debacle that is the National Children’s Hospital is the main cause of this anxiety. The multiple governance failures that have dogged the project overshadow the more successful delivery of large infrastructure projects such as the motorway network or the Dublin port tunnel.
The net point is that the lessons– both positive and negative – that have been gleaned while delivering projects over the last decades must be learned, be it in the form of a department of infrastructure as mooted by the Taoiseach or some other approach.
The other issue is the capacity of the State to build these projects. The economy is described as operating at close to full capacity. What this means is that the available pool of workers, equipment and other relevant assets is already fully utilised. Other less tangible enablers such as the planning system are also working flat out.
As they prepare their election manifestos it would behove the parties to devote some space to how they will address these issues and ensure the Apple money is not squandered.