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

As a member of the infrastructure committee, it is important to note that when it comes to pre-legislative scrutiny we have a very narrow and focused remit on the infrastructure committee. That is to see what exactly can be done, as a parliamentary committee, to reduce the delays and the barriers that we have in infrastructure. We had spent many months focusing solely on that and there was a vote on the committee to waive the pre-legislative scrutiny, which was based on the idea that as a committee we had examined many of the issues that are discussed in this legislation. We also had already met virtually all of the State bodies and agencies and many other stakeholders that would be part of a standard pre-legislative scrutiny, and we felt that it was not necessary to repeat that process to look again at the same issue, which is how do we accelerate our infrastructure programme. It was not a decision just to waive pre-legislative scrutiny because we felt that it was not important or was not necessary. Instead, it was that so much of the work that would be done at pre-legislative scrutiny had already been dealt with by the committee through a sustained programme of engagements with various bodies, public bodies, stakeholders and sector representatives.
When it comes to the decision to designate and both Houses of the Oireachtas being required to engage with resolutions in order to pass a designation as critical infrastructure, there has to be a recognition that at the end of the day, there will be a vote. First there will be a decision of the Government but there will also be a vote in the Dáil around this. That vote will not just arrive.
There will be a debate and discussion and then it will conclude with a vote. It is important to recognise that part too in the context of these amendments.

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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