Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Ciarán Ahern (LAB), Dublin South-West

I thank the Tánaiste. We welcome the LEEF meeting next week and the Labour Party will be supporting our trade unions here when they are looking for pay rises, when they are looking for remote and flexible working rights.
We are calling for free and cheap public transport and an expansion of those types of schemes. The Tánaiste did not indicate that the Government will continue to abide by the climate Act when it comes to our critical infrastructure. There are reasons other than those relating to environmental laws for projects in this country being delayed. A lack of resourcing of planning authorities, regulatory bodies and the courts over the past ten years has resulted in projects being delayed. It is not fair to dump on environmental laws.
It is not as if our rivers and waterways are in pristine condition or that our biodiversity is in a strong position. We need the climate Act. The whole point of section 15 of that Act is that public bodies can be held to account in the context of performing their duties in conjunction with our climate obligations. That should not get in the way of the construction of critical infrastructure. I ask the Government to look at this again and to reverse the decision in relation to the Critical Infrastructure Bill and section 15 of the Climate Act.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16