Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Jack Chambers (FF), Dublin West

While I accept the Senator's perspective on the matter, there are issues in Sligo and the north west. A judicial review was taken in respect of the ring road in Galway that related to climate legislation.
We have to remove legal avenues that are bringing uncertainty to projects that are hugely important for the west. We have ambitions to do more in the context of public transport and low carbon transport but the Senator knows from Sligo, there are important road projects that are hugely important for regional connectivity, economic development and from a road safety perspective. We know about the infrastructure deficit in the west and north west, some of which is connected to road transport.
The outworking of the Senator's argument is that because a road might create a potential emissions profile, should section 15 stop Sligo receiving a road it has been promised for 20 years, is in the national development plan and is hugely important for the economic development of County Sligo and the west more generally? The reason we are disapplying section 15 is to ensure that projects, some of which exist in the county the Senator respresents and others in the west, are built out and can happen. Some of that may be road infrastructure. I highlight the case with the A5 road in the North, which has seen the negative outworking of similar legislation in the North. In fairness, we have had good discussions with our colleagues on that in terms of how we can both learn in terms of better and improved infrastructure delivery and how that can improve connectivity for Border communities and counties.
Resourcing has increased exponentially for many public bodies and agencies. This is a question of improved performance and prioritisation so we get better delivery. The solution across public services is not always increased headcount. We need to better assess how systems work and how they prioritise their staffing towards improved delivery and accelerated timelines. That is why regulatory agencies and bodies need reform as much as increased headcount in many instances if we want to see improved delivery. I ask the Senator to reflect on that in the context of the county she represents and the need for an uplift in infrastructure. Some of that may be related to road infrastructure where people in Sligo and other counties in the west, such as with the Galway ring road and other instances, want to see delivery.
Should we risk that delivery because of a judge's interpretation of section 15 of the climate Act or should we ensure the Oireachtas and the Government, who are accountable and elected, can deliver a particular project if they want? We should not have that uncertainty brought in by people who want to use judicial reviews to achieve different objectives. That is why providing clarity and direction in this section will improve wider delivery.

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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