I am against all judicial reviews whether it is environmentalists, landowners or anybody in the economy. When a decision is made by An Coimisiún Pleanála, we need to allow it to be built and respected. We have seen the enormous deference to allowing this system and industry of judicial reviews to build up. It is undermining delivery systems right across the board. I am against landowners taking judicial reviews, I am against developers taking judicial reviews, I am against anybody taking judicial reviews, but I res…

On 3 December 2025, the Government published the accelerating infrastructure action plan. The report sets out a comprehensive programme of actions designed to speed up the delivery of critical infrastructure across the State and includes 30 actions across four key areas. The second pillar is regulatory reform and simplification. This means identifying where regulation leads to excessive process rather than improved outcomes. It also means examining the structure of our regulatory environment, the practices applied …

Some of the principles of better regulation are necessity, effectiveness, proportionality, coherence, efficiency, being time-bound, transparency and accountability. The reforms and principles outlined in the circular will drive better co-ordination between bodies. We seek to simplify many of the overlapping and unduly complex regulatory frameworks. The unit will use these principles to drive reforms across many of the bodies involved in regulation for critical infrastructure to shorten timelines and simplify proces…

One reform that has already happened is that of the infrastructure guidelines. We have removed the need, in many instances, for the external assurance process, which saves at least 20 weeks. We have cut the decision gates from three to two. A lot of process-related work goes into an additional decision gate where a matter is brought to Government. That process has been removed, which saves multiple weeks. The update from the joint utilities and transport clearing house is that there are about ten significant critic…

I thank the Deputy. As I said, the Critical Infrastructure Bill is a central pillar of the Government’s broader infrastructure acceleration agenda. The need for a Bill to fast-track a number of strategically important projects through approval processes was identified in the action published last December. The Bill has been drafted and introduced on a priority basis to respond to this need. Its primary aim is to allow the Government to designate certain projects or programmes as critical. This then requires all pub…

We have a framework set out in the legislation detailing the factors the Minister in my position will consider when designating particular projects. Obviously, I will be accountable to the House as to why a particular project is picked and prioritised. I always respect my duties to the House in that regard. I can already see the political risk in how this will be managed in the House where Deputies will question why certain projects are not being prioritised over other projects. If this is how the Bill is used, it …

We have set out a framework on the factors the Minister can consider in the context of designating projects. Anchoring decisions around those are important. I assure the Deputy and anyone in this House that any decision I make on designation will be fully in the public and national interest, yielding overall delivery. I will be accountable to the House in that regard. Prioritisation always creates winners and losers in any scenario, whether it is capital projects or in a budgetary context. Trade-offs happen. For ex…

As Minister, I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and monitoring monthly expenditure at departmental level. The programme for Government set out clear prioritisation for the national development plan review to ensure that investment can be maximised in the coming five years for strategic infrastructure. Last year, my Department worked on the identification of barriers to infrastructure delivery. In December, it published the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Pl…

There are a few changes being made. I referenced the infrastructure guidelines earlier, and that is an important change. They will save significant time and they have already advanced. Separately, we are seeking to put in place a standardised template on business case development. We know a business case can take a short time with particular agencies and utilities but, in certain instances, it drifts into years. The wider public discussion often focuses on judicial reviews and reforms in that space - we need to adv…

To build homes, we have to have transport, energy and water systems in place. That is why the work with utilities to build that enabling infrastructure is absolutely critical. There will be wider co-ordination with the housing activation office, which is working on this at a local level, for example, in Offaly. What are the opportunities to advance housing supply and growth at a local level? Where is there particular road or water infrastructure or a need from an energy perspective to advance housing supply? That w…

The conflict in the Middle East and the global energy crisis have created major challenges for economies around the world. The Government fully understands the significant pressure rising costs are placing on so many families, workers and businesses across our country. All Deputies in this House are listening to people and businesses who are struggling. Listening, engaging and understanding is what has informed the significant intervention the Government has been able to make. However, the sum of the actions in the…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to bring the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 forward for consideration by the Dáil today. The Bill is a central pillar of the Government’s infrastructure reforms. While its impact will be wide-ranging, it is a very clear and focused piece of legislation that is to the point. Its objective is to accelerate the provision of infrastructure in energy, transport, water and other sectors to get more housing built, make progress towards our cli…

Fair play to Deputy Ó Murchú. He always gets a lot in during the few minutes. I thank all Members of the House for their contributions to this evening's debate. We look forward to further engagement on the Bill as it progresses to Committee Stage. It is clear from the broader contributions that there is a consensus on the need to really reform how we deliver infrastructure. As I said at the outset, the publication of the Bill achieves one of the many actions in the Accelerating Infrastructure report. Really it is a…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery pursuant to Standing Orders 103(2)( b ) and 188(1).

I thank all the Members of the House for the opportunity to update them on the Government's plans to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure and to outline my Department's role in the management and delivery of capital projects and programmes. I appreciate all the contributions made by Senators on both the Government and Opposition sides on the collective wish to see us do things much quicker and cut through many of the obstacles that have permeated the system for too long. I will speak to some of what we are goi…

The Government has set out very clear priorities in terms of the reform of the triple lock legislation, which is central to the world as it has been changing in political and geopolitical contexts. We have been very clear that we are absolutely militarily neutral but we are not----

We are not politically neutral.

To see Sinn Féin oppose the €90 billion going to Ukraine-----

-----shows what side is Sinn Féin on when it comes to the aggression----

---and some of the votes it has had in the European Parliament and so on. We are very clear-----