I propose to take Question Nos. 1 to 24, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on infrastructure met last week on Monday, 18 May. The Cabinet committee works to drive infrastructure delivery and implementation of the national development plan. From the start, we have set out our ambition to deliver a step change in Ireland’s infrastructure. The revised national development plan sets out unprecedented investment of over €275 billion for critical infrastructure across the country to 2035, including an overall investment of €112 billion up to 2030. This includes funding for major infrastructural projects in transport, water and energy, which will support our continued development, notably in enabling the delivery of much needed housing at scale, but also to improve competitiveness and sustainability. In the coming years, we will see over €24 billion NDP funding invested in key transport programmes across our country, along with €12.2 billion for the water sector to support water quality, rural water services, unlock housing and upgrade water and wastewater infrastructure. In energy, the landmark investment of up to €18.9 billion approved by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities in its price review 6, supported by Government investment of €3.5 billion equity, will allow us to upgrade Ireland’s existing electricity infrastructure and deliver critical new infrastructure to meet future demand. This is the largest single investment in the country’s electricity network in its history.

Large, once-in-a-generation projects, such as MetroLink and the greater Dublin drainage scheme, are advancing at pace having secured planning, and they are now moving with momentum to enable construction to commence in the next few years. To ensure we get maximum value out of the investment we are making, we are reforming our delivery mechanisms so that these critical programmes are brought to fruition as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

The Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan sets out 30 high-impact reforms to speed and scale up delivery of homes, roads, public transport, water and wastewater plants and energy infrastructure. It includes legislative reforms to balance individual rights with the public interest, measures to simplify regulation and consenting systems, and to cut administrative burdens and red tape. Strong progress is being made and impacts are becoming clear. Twenty-six weeks were saved on the Waterford wastewater treatment plant due to measures implemented to accelerate projects through consenting processes. System changes have also resulted in Uisce Éireann changing the project commissioning of the greater Dublin drainage scheme, resulting in a saving of 12 months. Timelines for marine area consents are now reduced by 30% for bodies classified as "fit and proper". Further progress will be made over the current quarter.

The Critical Infrastructure Bill will fast-track the approval processes for strategically important projects and the scale of fees for environmental judicial reviews will give a clearer cost framework for applicants and the taxpayer. A large number of measures are being implemented to continue our reform agenda.

Thank you, Taoiseach.

Our economy is strong and our population is growing, and we are building a robust infrastructural backbone to support this. We are seizing the opportunity now to invest for the benefit of current and future generations.

I thank the Taoiseach. I raise the issue of Cork BusConnects project. As the Taoiseach knows, Cork is a growing city but every day people are facing long commutes, unreliable journey times, whether that is in a private car or on public transport, and we have roads that simply cannot take additional capacity. BusConnects offers a real choice but unfortunately it is almost stagnant in terms of its delivery and implementation. If it is moving, it is at a glacial pace. It was first mooted in July 2021 with the first concept consultation. It is now almost five years later and the process has been extremely frustrating. I seriously question the use of the €75 million the NTA has spent on BusConnects to date. It needs to be driven towards delivery and I ask the Taoiseach to please take this matter up.

From my work on the infrastructure committee, it is clear that Government is putting major investment and the right frameworks in place, particularly through the work the Minister, Deputy Chambers, has done on infrastructure legislation; the work the Minister, Deputy Browne, is doing in housing delivery; and that of the Taoiseach himself and his Department. The Government is now providing a huge amount of money to the likes of Uisce Éireann over the next five years, which is a very significant level of investment. However, concerns continue to arise around whether the organisation currently has the operational capacity, technical expertise and the management structures needed to deliver these projects. Will the Taoiseach outline what further steps are being taken to strengthen delivery?

We have raised on the floor of the House previously the importance attached to DART+ South West for my constituency. I am pleased that in the interactions I have had with the Minister for Transport on the floor of the Dáil that he has indicated a willingness to try to bring this forward for delivery ahead of the expected timeframe. I ask again for the Taoiseach's support in ensuring that does happen. It is pivotal that it happens for my constituency and the rapidly growing communities in Lucan, Clondalkin, Adamstown and Clonburris, and that in the interim sufficient bus services are put in place to make sure we give people the option so they do not have to rely on the private car.

I brought up the issue before of Scoil Bhríde in Shelagh. It is a national school that needs further accommodation. Many parents have been on to me and I have spoken to the school principal and many staff members. The Taoiseach has corresponded but we still do not have the timelines that are necessary and the promises from the planning and building unit, so I request that that would happen. It is a school that would have had to close today. I am requesting that the Taoiseach would add to my voice on the need for Uisce Éireann to deal with the issue of water supply outages in that area and the significant issues that exist. A meeting is needed with Uisce Éireann.

On 13 May, the Irish Independent reported that DLR Properties Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, but which, incredibly, councillors have no control over and no say in whatsoever, put up for sale on the private market land in Cherrywood, which is zoned for more than 1,000 units of housing. It is shocking that the State - the only political representation on it is Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - is selling off land that could be used for housing in the midst of a housing crisis.

It is hard to think of community infrastructure more important than our postal services. It, therefore, makes no sense whatsoever that the sorting office for Dublin 16 is being moved out of Dublin 16, from Edmondstown to Lucan. It will be a disaster for workers who have built their lives around the fact that they live near where they work, and it will result in massively worsened postal services because the letters and packets will get stuck on the M50.

The routes will not get finished and, potentially, people will have to go all the way to Lucan to pick up their packages. Will the Taoiseach join me in urging An Post to sit down and meet representatives of the community and reverse this disastrous decision?

A short drive from here is the Poolbeg area. The Irish Glass Bottle site is expected to have about 10,000 residents at peak when it is completed but there is a major traffic congestion problem. If the Taoiseach tried to go there this afternoon, he would experience it. We are waiting on the Poolbeg Luas. There was a report saying it could be delivered by 2030 and I want to understand why it will not be. Why is it not in the national development plan? What will the Government do to accelerate infrastructure in this area, which badly needs it?

That is two for Poolbeg because I will also raise the extension of the Luas to Poolbeg. I can tell Deputy Hayes that I have had engagement with the NTA and the project is progressing at pace. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, hopes to go to public consultation early in the new year. I re-emphasise the need for that project. It is not a very large project - a couple of kilometres - but it would make a difference to an area where there will be 10,000 people living and potentially an additional 10,000 people working. TII has confirmed that there is a demand for the extension.

Deputy Geoghegan might communicate with Deputy Hayes on that one.

I did.

A woman attended a public meeting I held last week and she spoke about her son being out of school for two years. He is at home and is smashing things up. She has had to give up her job, as is often the case with people whose children have additional needs. We need a second special school in Dublin 15 and in Dublin West. Cork, Limerick and Blanchardstown have comparable populations, yet we have one special school whereas Limerick and Cork have numerous. This is a recommendation of the task force. How will this infrastructure be provided?

DART+ South West will bring DART services through Clondalkin, Lucan and Adamstown. Construction was expected to start in 2025, but it has been delayed to 2030 at the earliest. This project would enable 20,000 passengers from Clondalkin, Lucan and Adamstown to go each way every hour. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, said the delay was interlinked with another project. I do not believe that is the case. It is ultimately down to funding from central government to the NTA. Will the Taoiseach confirm this? Will the Government prioritise the construction of DART+ South West?

The Government is spending €5 million on building a temporary platform at Adare for the Ryder Cup, yet there is a €35 million missing link between that temporary platform and Limerick Colbert Station. As a result, the Government is spending €5 million on a temporary platform that will only be able to go from Adare to Limerick Junction, bypassing Limerick city, which is a 15-minute drive away. Should the link not be funded - the €35 million Kerry curve - to allow services into Limerick city?

The Deputy left out the main supporters, the people who made it happen.

Taoiseach, we do not have time. I call Deputy O'Rourke.

I raise the unscheduled water outages in Ashbourne, County Meath. They are hugely frustrating and increasingly common. People who have lived in the area for decades say it has never been worse. There is a variety of issues: interruptions at the treatment plant, reduced levels in the reservoirs and problems with pumps. However, the main issue is the large and ageing network that has not been invested in. To add insult to injury, Uisce Éireann's communication is a disgrace. What is the Taoiseach doing to address these outages in Ashbourne? Will he advance Sinn Féin's Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2025 to hold Uisce Éireann to account?

Will the Government establish new designated parking bays at motorway junctions to support car-pooling and curtail rising costs for commuters? The basic infrastructure to support car-pooling does not exist in many parts of the country. Motorists are already using motorway junctions as informal meeting points. They pull in on hard shoulders in Paulstown, Mullinavat, Castledermot, Knocktopher and Danesfort. Provision of spaces with safe access, lighting and basic security would immediately reduce dangerous stopping practices and lower commuting costs and congestion. The solution would play into existing Government policy aimed at reducing emissions, tackling congestion and supporting more sustainable travel.

Iarnród Éireann cannot organise a cup of tea to be sold on its commuter trains from Galway or Sligo but it can incinerate €50 million on a failed IT system. This is another disgusting waste of money in our country. You might as well have loaded that €50 million onto a bonfire and set it alight. Does the Taoiseach understand the time it took for those workers to earn the income to pay the tax that has been frittered away? This would not be tolerated in any other walk of life. Will the Taoiseach make sure that the individual responsible for this is removed from their job?

The new battery electric DART to Wicklow town was first promised in 2019 by then Minister, Shane Ross. His expectation was that Wicklow would see that electric DART by 2023. In 2021, a local Government backbencher stated that the carriages would be operational by 2025. In 2022, the former Minister, Stephen Donnelly, announced that the electric DART would be operational by 2026. In February 2025, the date was pushed back to 2028. Last year, it was pushed back again to 2029. It was announced last month that Irish Rail had gone out to tender for this battery electric DART extension. Will the Taoiseach confirm that it is still the case that the DART will be operational by 2029?

I raise Carrabane National School in County Galway. Two weeks ago, I visited the school. The conditions are shocking. There are prefab buildings quite literally falling apart. People have been waiting 20 years for their new school building but it has been delayed again and again by the Department. It is on the priority list but people still do not have clarity as to when it will go to construction. Local families and children should not have to put up with this. They deserve an awful lot better. Will the Taoiseach ensure that this project gets the go-ahead and is prioritised?

It is no surprise that I am discussing energy costs again. The frustration I have today is that the Climate Change Advisory Council again warned the climate and energy committee that Ireland remained exposed to global fossil fuel shocks because of renewable roll-out. At the same time, I have been contacted regarding a proposed infrastructure crossing charge from an already built solar farm being applied by a semi-State body - an unpublished charging structure of €20,000 per megawatt. It is a ridiculous amount to be giving to a renewable project that goes up to €465,000. That end cost will go to the Irish public. CIÉ needs to be investigated.

The Taoiseach has 21 Members to respond to, please. He has 21 answers to give, believe it or not.

Did 21 speak? I thank them all.

Deputy McGrath began on Cork BusConnects. I am familiar with it and may have been responsible for some of the delays in terms of the consultation required with residents and communities. The initial preferred routes that the NTA produced created huge anxiety and stress for many families across the board and we all had to intervene to try to get common sense. Then, lo and behold, there were changed routes. There is an issue with how BusConnects does that. I have had that issue with BusConnects. Very often in the beginning of the process, you get the worst case scenario put out there. People get really stressed and then, lo and behold, a new solution is arrived at. One wonders whether the new solution was in the bottom drawer all along. I do not want to be too unreasonable but as public representatives, I think we have all experienced that. Sometimes, there is no need to create all that stress.

Legislative capacity has now been given to the NTA to be the body with overall responsibility for the roll-out of BusConnects in Cork. It is making progress, at long last. To be fair, there was a lot of consultation and many residents' organisations and communities had issues with residential amenities, potential CPOs, all of that. There is an evaluation to be done and lessons to be learned from how that happened. However, I take the Deputy's point. It was 2021 and it is now 2026.

Deputy McCormack spoke of Uisce Éireann, accountability and so on. There is an issue there and many public representatives are not happy with the level of accountability of Uisce Éireann.

It is neither a semi-State in terms of Dáil questions and so on, but there needs to be a quicker response to public representatives, particularly Members of Dáil Éireann, who are elected by the people, vote money in respect of Uisce Éireann and need a more simplified and straightforward avenue of communication on various projects and issues, and also on the acceleration of projects. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has spoken to the Deputy. There has been a lot of progress made on some of the big projects, but we need to get more on the towns-based ones in terms of wastewater treatment solutions, and even more than that.

In response to Deputy Shane Moynihan, I am fully behind DART+ South West. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I got very positive feedback that it would be accelerated beyond what was originally given, and I am confident that funding will be found. My view is that the funding will be there to enable DART+ South West to happen because a lot of housing will depend on it as well. All of the development plans along that route envisage very substantial housing projects but they cannot happen if DART+ South West does not happen, so I think it will happen. In the interim, I hear what the Deputy is saying in respect of bus services being advanced.

In response to Deputy Ó Murchú on Scoil Bhríde, he is persistent. I will talk to the Minister for education. There is a broader issue around capital, but I will raise specific schools with the Minister. The Deputy has raised that school with me and I will talk to the Minister for education in respect of that.

The Deputy said there was an Uisce Éireann connection to it-----

The water is out. There are a huge number of issues, including with pumps. If the Taoiseach could follow up on this, a meeting is needed.

We do not have time for these things. We have to be fair to other Members.

In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I presume that the 1,000 housing units are being sold on with a view to development for housing.

Why sell it?

Sorry, Taoiseach. This is Taoiseach's Questions; there is no back and forth.

It is publicly owned.

It was a rhetorical question.

I asked that rhetorically.

I know, but rhetorical or not, will the Taoiseach get on with it, please?

I cannot help the-----

Well, I can, so keep going.

----- energetic responses from Deputy Boyd Barrett. He is engaged anyway. He is on every word I am saying, which is important, too. I am not being facetious about the matter, but I presume and hope that is the case and I will engage with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to make sure that it will go for housing and that the 1,000 houses will be built because we need those 1,000 houses as well.

In response to Deputy Paul Murphy, there are various reforms in An Post. I have talked to An Post. The Deputy has raised the issue. It probably has its reasons it is doing what it is doing, and it remains to be seen whether that will be as disastrous as the Deputy suggests, but I will engage with An Post on the issue.

Deputy Hayes raised the issue of 10,000 homes in Poolbeg and that he needed a Poolbeg Luas. That was followed quickly by Deputy Geoghegan, who said that it was happening.

That would be an update. It is not in the national development plan, NDP.

It is happening anyway, but Deputy Hayes said that it was not happening at all and the Deputy Geoghegan said it was. The Taoiseach now believes that it may be happening. It is important. It is a huge housing development, and we obviously need public transport to service it and the Luas would be an outstanding facilitation of that.

In response to Deputy Coppinger, I will talk to the Minister. If it is recommended by the task force that we need a second special school in the area, I would support of that. I will see whether the Minister can advance that or not.

In response to Deputy Ward, I think I have dealt comprehensively with DART+ South West. I am supportive of it and we are making good progress on it. The funding is there and will be there for it.

In response to Deputy Sheehan, he should acknowledge the extraordinary funding that is going into Adare on all fronts because of the Ryder Cup. There is a lot of investment across the board in lots of services, roads-----

We need the train to connect to Limerick.

-----transport, rail. I do not know if the Deputy would be playing golf there, but Adare is doing well, and that is no harm for that region either.

In response to the Deputy Conway-Walsh, I was very disappointed that she never mentioned Fianna Fáil.

I just could not bring myself to do it.

Fianna Fáil built Knock airport - everybody knows that - with Monsignor Horan, and she could not mention Fianna Fáil. She could not mention Charles Haughey. Monsignor Horan embraced him when he went there to dig the old sod. Everyone said we were stupid, all of the media and the Opposition. They all said that it was nonsense and asked how bad and stupid could we get.

The Taoiseach is turning into Bertie with these answers.

Lo and behold, 40 years later, it is still doing very well and the Deputy could not mention Fianna Fáil.

I only had 30 seconds.

Deputy O'Rourke asked about Ashbourne and the treatment plant.

It was water.

We have put huge investment into Uisce Éireann. It is up to Uisce Éireann to get on with it and start delivering. It has no issue with funding now and that is clear.

In response to Deputy Cleere, it is an interesting proposal and idea. I will talk to TII. It would be responsible for that, but I hear what he is saying. Car-pooling is something that we are encouraging. We need to give capacity to enable that to happen.

In response to Deputy Tóibín-----

Some €50 million was wasted.

Yes. I will talk to the Minister to get behind that to get the full details around that IT system and what the issue has been, as well for full accountability in respect of that project.

Deputy Whitmore asked about the DART to Wicklow town. She gave a long timeline and then she said at the end that it had gone out for tender. If it has gone out for tender, we are in business, and I think it will progress. The precise timeline depends on the tender process and so on, but I think it is going to happen, notwithstanding the long lead-in time that the Deputy outlined there.

In response to Deputy O'Hara, I will raise the national school in Carrabane with the Minister.

In response to Deputy Heneghan, I need the background to the issue from him, but I hear what he is saying. We should not be exacerbating the costs for what are practical and important solutions to our energy crisis.

It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.