Departmental Strategies
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Joe Neville (FG), Kildare North

I thank the Minister very much for his response. I know he is very passionate about this issue, which the Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery has seen. As Vice Chair of that committee, I am very focused on it. As a councillor, I saw a lot of houses being built in north Kildare, for example. I am sure the same applies in the rest of the country. In Celbridge, we need a second bridge. In Leixlip, we need development at the top of Confey and in Maynooth, a relief road is required. These are simple things but we see delays.
A change in culture is required across the Civil Service and local authorities. In fairness, we have significant funding available due to good governance. We have €102 billion available to be spent in the next four years and €275 billion to be spent on capital projects over the next nine years. That is extremely welcome. The reason we need to ensure the right culture and accountability are in place across the Civil Service and local authorities is to ensure we get to spend this money. It is really important that we make sure people make decisions. Sometimes, the most difficult thing in the Civil Service is to make a decision because the worst thing people can do is get something wrong. Sometimes, making no decision is actually better for those individuals. That is what we need to control.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12