Private wires are an essential part of developing the wider need on energy and digital infrastructure. What I was about to say was that some of the lengthy development cycles and regulatory complexity and fragmentation across regulatory bodies is extremely problematic. Too much uncertainty and delay is driven by legal, planning and consenting processes. There is also the issue of capacity concerns in the public and private sectors, as well as the lack of realistic and specific State project pipelines. Additionally,…

If we look at the national planning framework and all the different existing policies, it is about complementing housing delivery with community infrastructure and social infrastructure. We have had significantly increased supports for the development of social infrastructure across the State. In the last Government, we had one of the biggest interventions around developing community and sports infrastructure, for example, which is being seen right across north Dublin and in many other parts of the country. Similar…

In line with the commitment in the programme for Government, my Department has prioritised an early review of the national development plan, NDP, which will be published in July. The aim of the review is to improve our infrastructure, particularly water, energy and transport. Prioritisation of these sectors is necessary to deliver hundreds of thousands of additional homes and to boost our competitiveness. The review document to be published in July will feature annual capital allocations to Departments over the fiv…

Water and wastewater infrastructure is critical to deliver the homes that we need and to deal with the broader infrastructure deficit that exists relating to water infrastructure more generally. What we are doing as part of that is prioritising it. The Exchequer funding of what is now Uisce Éireann significantly increased in recent years but we recognise that, to meet the level of ambition we have in housing supply in the economy, but also to address some of the deficits in regions, there needs to be a much greater…

I thank Deputy Farrell for raising the issue of offshore islands, Deputy Burke for raising the issue of wastewater treatment plants during the noughties and Deputy Crowe for raising the issue of underlying infrastructure. My first role as part of this is to ensure that commercial State bodies, like Uisce Éireann, are appropriately funded over the medium term. That is something we will address as part of the national development plan to be outlined next week. The second part of my responsibilities is to ensure that …

The national development plan is the State's medium- to long-term plan for public capital investment. The current national development plan to 2030 provided for public capital investment of €165 billion over the period 2021 to 2030. Government is currently prioritising an early review of this plan, to be published this month, which will set out five-year departmental capital ceilings and additionality to 2030 and overall capital expenditure ceilings for the ten-year period to 2035. The objective of the review is to…

The Deputy is right. That was an excellent project delivered by Uisce Éireann. His original question connects back to the previous question that was asked. We understand the challenge Uisce Éireann has had each year in knowing its funding position the following year and the effect that has on contractors and their delivery pipelines. We are cognisant of that in the work we are doing as part of the national development plan. In the critical strategic sectors of infrastructure, we will give a longer view for contract…

I might just come in also. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, just dealt with one part. Part of the work we are doing is to try to accelerate and improve the project life cycle. Be they full schemes or road projects, they are taking far too long. IGEES is deployed across Government Departments, assessing and evaluating some of the policies that have been advanced by Government. It provides external assessment to inform policy decisions we take as part of the budget process. It plays an important role and is deplo…

As the Deputy said, she is referring to delay in addressing taxes due on retirement and anomalies in deductions of various pension contributions. A review in relation to Ministers who may have been impacted regarding contributions and additional superannuation contributions, ASCs, has been completed. Those identified are being contacted and engagement is ongoing. I understand from the National Shared Services Office, NSSO, that many recoupment plans are now in place. A review of retirees liable for chargeable exces…

Recruitment plans around chargeable excess tax and pension contributions are two separate issues. I agree that what happened is unacceptable. That is why we need a full external audit and that will happen. If someone who has worked in the public service is liable for chargeable excess tax, they have 20 years on a normal basis to spread that liability once they retire. For example, if someone is retired for two years, they have the remaining 18 years to pay that liability of chargeable excess tax if it has not been …

The external audit will be important in assessing the wider systems processes and compliance with public policy and with the statutory position the NSSO exists within. That work will commence and be completed as soon as practically possible. The tender process is ongoing with this audit for the NSSO. As part of budgetary preparations, we are being clear we want to make permanent, sustained and sustainable changes in the context of budget 2026 to improve public services and living standards and make a difference, pa…

I thank the Deputy. My Department has implemented several safeguards and strategic frameworks to ensure that large-scale public infrastructure contracts are completed on time and within budget. The infrastructure guidelines published in 2023 set the key requirements for project governance over a project’s life cycle. The guidelines cover the evaluation of projects and their proper planning and management once approval in principle is obtained. The guidelines have replaced the public spending code and, significantly…

I agree. Much work has been done in recent years to embed international best practice into contract management. The wider point has to be acknowledged that if things become too risk averse and no decision is made, then we do not have any delivery and have a long list of hypothetical projects that are not delivered over time. We need a balanced discussion on delivery, in addition to that on risk and cost which is sometimes the broader discussion in this House, the media and elsewhere. The metric has to be delivery a…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. To speak to Deputy Crowe's point, there has been a significant consultation on Ireland's procurement strategy and we will have a new national procurement strategy in the coming months. The Minister of State, Deputy Emer Higgins, is leading out on that work. Changes are taking place in the EU and we expect them to conclude during Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2026. I agree with Deputy Connolly that we need more balance in the broader discussion…

The programme for Government reaffirmed its commitment to the shared island fund and committed to increasing the resources available to the fund by a further €1 billion up to 2035. The shared island initiative is co-ordinated by a dedicated unit within the Department of the Taoiseach, with a focus on fostering co-operation and collaboration across the island of Ireland, aiming to build a more connected, sustainable and prosperous future. The initiative involves working with the Northern Ireland Executive and the Br…

I share the Deputy's ambition and focus on this critical investment to help to build peaceful and thriving communities. The fund helps to deliver economic regeneration and transformation across our island and empowers and invests in young people, embedding partnership and collaboration. The PEACEPLUS programme and the shared island fund have driven progress across many areas and we are seeing the manifestation of that capital investment in the deliver of infrastructure in some instances and also in important commun…

I thank the Deputy for her question. I first want to echo what she said about Brother Crowley. Ireland has lost a wonderful person, someone who brought incredible care, humility and service to support the most vulnerable in our country. We thank him for his tireless work. May he rest in peace. I offer condolences to all of his family. In response to the Deputy's question, I acknowledge there is still pressure in the daily lives of many families and costs are still high. What we said at the time of the formation of …

What I have said very clearly is that the outlook will be informed by what we agree as part of budget 2026. This is the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin when it comes to third level fees. In the North, the then Minister, Caoimhe Archibald, was not at the time ruling out hikes in student fees.

She then said that she had to work within the context of the financial position. It is the same for this Government when it comes to budget 2026.

When it comes to all policy-----