On bread and butter issues NI sorely lacks people to see the job through

Again I heard an academic say just the other day that we have had many health reviews and the same old problems persist – hence the hospital problems exemplified by Daisy Hill.

This is true of so much in Northern Ireland. Look at the failures which cost the taxpayer and the exchequer millions, as well as lives which we don’t seem to count.

Just a few of our failures:

The NHS not rationalised to give a better service;

The York Street interchange not started (let alone not completed);

The ‘Streets Ahead’ improvement scheme for Belfast’s Great Victoria Street;

Rubbish being shipped to other countries across the world;

School underperformance;

The removal of peace walls (barriers)... And so on. No doubt there are many more.

The common features are the lack of drive, the lack of a plan to complete, the lack of ideas about persuading the people who object to the changes to accept that they’re beneficial, and the lack of will on the part of politicians to make the hard choices.

Too many of our bright, dynamic achievers are too busy running successful organisations to spend time and energy tackling the big non-political or sectarian issues.

It is hard to see that there will be any change, no matter what the politicians promise, unless there is someone appointed with authority to make the changes with courage, ability, and drive.

Tom Ekin, businessman and former Alliance councillor in Belfast

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