Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Aidan Davitt (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I am delighted to see the Minister back here again today. He is here nearly every week. The legislation he is bringing to us is very comprehensive. As the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers is evidently going to be hands-on in implementing it. I am curious about how he sees that working. Will he put some meat on the bones that he has shown to us here today? For argument's sake, let us say a key project is envisaged, whether a bridge, water supply infrastructure or whatever else. While it already happens in some cases, although not all, I humbly suggest it would be good working practice to hold a meeting once a month or, God forbid, every Friday morning to bring the head of the ESB and his technical guys on the ground, Irish Water and all of these different bodies together under the Minister's stewardship. The legislation is fabulous in its detail and everything else but we must put the squeeze on and bang heads together to get the result. I know from dealing with a lot of these projects that you are dealing with Irish Water, the ESB and, possibly, Waterways Ireland. The Minister will have seen several of these things himself. Things are pushed from Billy to Jack.
The implementation and how the Minister intends to use his powers will be key to this legislation proving its worth. The Minister might want to give us more detail. If the Minister has decided a specialised project will fall into this category, to push it forward, he needs to bring all of the necessary bodies together to make it happen. How does he intend to make that happen and oil the wheel? I will let my colleague, the Deputy Leader, raise a couple of queries.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20