Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-16 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I support these amendments. They make common sense. I thank the Minister and his officials for coming to the House and for the work they have put into this legislation. Today we had great fanfare from the Government press office, with the Minister for housing announcing the housing infrastructure investment fund, HIIF. If there was ever a case to have housing as infrastructure, it was today with that announcement. Everyone in the Seanad seems to have circulated it to all 31 local authorities because I have seen ten iterations in different forms, but this is the crystal-clear one, the Government Information Service one which sets out the great announcement. Housing is infrastructure; it has to be infrastructure. It is a Government commitment. I have served for two terms on the Oireachtas joint committee on housing, planning and local government. Everyone in this room and this Parliament knows the importance of housing infrastructure. The Minister will know that along the east coast we have a major deficit in sewerage and wastewater infrastructure. He will know how that has impacted housing and how An Bord Pleanála, now An Coimisiún Pleanála, indicated that it could not grant permission for many housing projects over the past ten to 15 years because of the lack of capacity in the sewerage system serving the east coast all the way over to Poolbeg. Again, there was the need for infrastructure. We were told there was this blockage in the infrastructure in relation to sewerage and water. We all know about our health, the major health concerns and the plans in health. We have read in various iterations of legislation on planning that there are what are termed "serial objectors", or people who are frustrating the planning process in developing major critical infrastructure like health services. That is an important priority. We see the major deficit and shortages in transport infrastructure. We do not see an eastern bypass, a circular road right around the coast, yet it has been on the boards for years. We look at Galway. I could tell the Minister about loads of projects where major deficits of infrastructure have frustrated the roll-out and development of roads and facilities that bring on jobs, which are so essential to our economy, and housing. We then talk about energy and the need to get solar, wind and wave energy. We are again told - and I agree to a certain extent about this, and others have lectured us on it - that there is this hold-up in terms of critical energy because of the infrastructure. We are not getting on with meeting our objectives in terms of producing alternative energy, and that is also a problem. We see this in areas of agriculture, but I will not talk about agriculture because that is not part of this amendment. Clearly, however, housing is an issue. I welcome this amazing commitment and ambition. It puts the people's money where the Government wishes to go in relation to the housing infrastructure investment fund. I did not make that title up; that is the Government's position. We have a housing infrastructure investment fund of millions of euro, with 82 projects in the first phase announced today. I welcome all that. That is not a criticism. We have challenges around health facilities and transport facilities, including our ports. We see the Minister talking about lifting bans in Dublin. We see issues around the various ports. We see the ambition for the western rail corridor, which I also support. All of these are critical components of infrastructure and layers of transport for goods and people and for our economy, and we have to invest in them all. Let us not be afraid to call it infrastructure. The Government, as the Minister has indicated previously, will set this out. Nothing is set in stone. He needs a certain amount of flexibility in relation to these matters. However, we need to be clear, concise and strong in our messaging, and I never doubt that in the Minister. He brings great clarity to everything he does in politics. I have observed him for a considerable period, and one of the great things I admire about him is that he takes decisions. He makes those decisions simple and brings great clarity to matters. I do not think it is unreasonable to send out a clear message to the citizens, the people the Minister represents. None of this conflicts in any way with Government policy or with the programme for Government. We need to send a message that the Government sees housing, health provision, transport, energy transmission and distribution systems, the water supply and wastewater management as key critical components of a vision and a plan for infrastructure. There should be some degree of certainty and clarity on these issues and this legislation. There may be another way of doing so outside of this amendment. I would welcome the Minister's considered view on these matters. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-16