Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-14
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I agree. We all know where there have been deficits in infrastructure. We know the issues that have existed where people have played the system. That is undoubted. We have also seen situations where we have not seen perfect engagement, be it from the State or developers. We have all seen it in our constituencies. We have seen where pre-consultation and consultation have been done well, where they have removed some of the fears there can be in relation to projects, and then we have seen them progress better.
It goes without saying we are talking about areas where we cannot necessarily deliver clean water or a sewerage system that is fit for purpose, and we are talking about this in 2026. Irrespective of the absolutely rightful arguments there were earlier on the fuel crisis and the ineptitude of the Government in dealing with it, at the end of the day there has been abject failure in dealing with our infrastructural deficits and we all need to see this improved 100%.
I agree with what many have said, that we are somewhat worried about the fact that pre-legislative scrutiny was waived. I would like to think there will be sufficient time on Committee Stage and that we will not be looking at guillotined legislation from the point of view of working through all of the necessary amendments and arguments that need to be made. Every time the Government has come up with the ultimate legislative solution in relation to infrastructural deficits, it has not changed anything to date. If we look at the Planning and Development Act, planners who spoke to me said it was more sentences, more paragraphs and more words that would be dissected in courtrooms.
That was their belief. We need simplicity in this. There is nobody who does not want to see this sort of critical infrastructure being delivered and to reduce and streamline. We constantly talk about streamlining. We know the issues that have existed in the planning system. Obviously, we need to be able to get to grip with the circumstances. We are pretty late in getting into this game, or the Government is anyway. We need to know what exactly is going to fall into the sphere of critical infrastructure. I know people have asked about anaerobic digestion and renewables. Are we talking about State projects or is there room for manoeuvre in relation to other projects? Again, that is about making sure we do not undermine the piece I spoke about where we need to make sure we can at least have decent consultation with people.
I could talk about the rail infrastructure in County Louth and the need for more stations but I would start with Dundalk's Clarke Station. We are all talking about the absolute need for public transport, particularly this week, but we do not have enough parking spaces at that station. We have fewer than we had because they were taken away. We are awaiting some sort of solution on that. Even simple solutions like that are not being delivered.
We talk about water. It will be years before we see the CFRAM plan delivered in County Louth. We are talking about five projects. As I have said many times before, I live in the Bay Estate and we have a joint sewerage and rainwater system-----

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Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-14