The Government has a credibility problem. Most of its big targets are a fiction. From climate, to housing, to infrastructure, to child poverty, to childcare costs – most of the things it has said it will do are not achievable. Not by a long way. And this has a corrosive effect on confidence in the Coalition, as well as leading to poor policymaking.

The Coalition is a prisoner of the fantasies contained in its own Programme for Government – and announced since, in a few cases. Nobody believes them, but as they are still “policy” everyone has to pretend they are relevant. Time is wasted drawing up more ways in which they won’t be achieved – rather than prioritising on the basis of reality and focusing on delivery.

It is hard to know where to start. There is the target of building 300,000 houses during the Government’s term. Of cutting carbon emissions in 2030 by 51 per cent from 2018 levels. Of slashing monthly childcare costs to €200 a month. Of reducing patient waiting times in the health services to 10 to 12 weeks. Of cutting the rate of consistent child poverty below 3 per cent by 2030 from close to 8 per cent now. Of ending homelessness by 2030.

Each sectoral target has a series of sub-targets. All the numbers add up. It is all internally consistent. But that does not mean it will actually happen. In the environment, the goal is 5 gigawatts of operational offshore wind by 2030 – in fact, it is hard to see how any new offshore wind will be operational until into the 2030s. The aim is an energy system 80 per cent reliant on renewables by 2030; 945,000 EVs on the road and 500,000 homes retrofitted by the same date. A recent report by the Climate Change Advisory Council stated that the rate of retrofitting, which has risen, would need to double to achieve this. Just 10........

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