Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel

The Minister is most welcome to the Chamber this evening. I have said on the record of the House before that I believe this to be among the most important legislation that Senators will debate and discuss during the entire term of this Seanad. It is really important that, from the outset, we acknowledge the work the Minister and officials in his Department have done, together with the various task forces the Minister has also established. I am a member of the Oireachtas infrastructure committee. Over the past 13 or 14 months, we have examined a number of the key challenges the State is facing in delivering critical infrastructure projects.
On the amendment, I accept that there will always be projects that are considered critical, depending on where you are and how you look at things. I see the Enniscorthy flood relief scheme in my own town as critical infrastructure. I have raised this with the Minister previously and, in fairness to him, he wrote back to me saying that there is flexibility within the legislation as currently presented to designate various projects as critical infrastructure. He stated that, rather than having a prescriptive list, there must be flexibility to account for what might be considered critical in the future.
I am particularly drawn to the wording in section 3, which speaks about how a project can be designated as critical infrastructure. Section 3(3)(b) states that among the matters the Minister must consider, whether now or in the future, as to whether a project can be deemed critical is "whether delay to, or disruption of, the delivery of a project or programme, or failure to deliver a project or programme, may have adverse economic or social consequences for the State". The provision of housing, healthcare, transport, energy, water and wastewater management systems can all be captured within that as failure to deliver these may have adverse economic or social consequences for the State.
When this legislation was originally proposed, given the enormous challenges we have had in Enniscorthy in delivering the Enniscorthy flood relief scheme, it was my view that there may need to be amendments, which I would have put down myself, to designate flood defences as critical infrastructure. However, based on the Minister's correspondence and the proposed wording of the legislation, I am now satisfied that those projects and other critical projects in the areas of housing, health, transport, energy, water supply and wastewater can be captured by the legislation as currently presented.
I fear that, if we get too prescriptive as to what exactly we can do, we will be tying the hands of the Minister or future Ministers in this regard. Making our definitions too broad could result in projects not having flexibility to adapt. I would hate to see the goal, that is, trying to speed things up, being frustrated and the Minister's hands being tied because we prescribed too specific a list. The definitions have to be as broad as possible. The Minister and future Ministers have to have as much flexibility as possible. We must also always be conscious that, in order to designate something as critical infrastructure under the legislation, a vote in Dáil Éireann is required. There is therefore a safeguard. For a project to be designated as critical infrastructure, it will have to be voted through in the Dáil.
I have a question for the Minister. What happens if a project has been designated as critical infrastructure, a designation order has been made to a public body to speed it up and that public body does not fully comply or delays exceed what would be reasonable given the State's designation of the project as critical? What safeguards are in place? If there is a difficulty with a public body in respect of a project, such as a health facility or housing, what happens? What protections are in place for the public and the taxpayer to make sure there is follow-through and sanctions and penalties? I know that, in theory, any public body can be brought before the Committee of Public Accounts but what exactly are the consequences if a body does not live up to what it is meant to be doing in respect of a critical project?

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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