Capital Expenditure Programme
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
============================================================

John Connolly (FF), Galway West

I welcome the Minister's confirmation that we are not removing political approval for these projects. There was some concern about the elimination of ministerial approval at stage 2 of the project timeline but the Minister has clarified that ministerial approval will still be required at stages 1 and 3. This is very welcome. There was a sense that we were moving on and leaving decisions to unelected officials rather than Ministers.
One of the reasons I have focused on this action plan is because of its reference to transport and water infrastructure. We are all familiar with delays in the progression of major transport infrastructure and major water infrastructure. One of the things outlined in the action is that the approval processes in transport are to be reviewed to identify opportunities to eliminate duplication. Uisce Éireann receives a lot of criticism for how it implements infrastructural plans but it is clear now that the guidelines we have set down for it are part of the reason for this. At present, Uisce Éireann business cases must be approved through the infrastructure guidelines and by the CRU. Will the Minister provide clarity on transport and water in particular, and on the elimination of dual processes?

---

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/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12