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.
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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.
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Deputy Geoghegan might communicate with Deputy Hayes on that one.
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The Deputy left out the main supporters, the people who made it happen.
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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-----
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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.
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I asked that rhetorically.
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I cannot help the-----
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----- 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.
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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-----
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-----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.
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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.
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Lo and behold, 40 years later, it is still doing very well and the Deputy could not mention Fianna Fáil.
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Deputy O'Rourke asked about Ashbourne and the treatment plant.
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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-----
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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.
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I have so much to say.
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 to 37, inclusive, together. Our programme for Government sets out an ambitious agenda for building our shared island backed by our €2 billion commitment to the shared island fund out to 2035. We are forging ahead with the investment and co-operation agenda across all sectors. In November, the Government made a funding commitment of over €50 million from the shared island fund to resource ten new island-wide programmes over the next five years, including on media, heritage, emergency management, greenways and air transport. In December, the Minister for enterprise and employment and I announced six projects under the €20 million shared island sustainability capital grant scheme, supporting six firms across the island and leveraging over €60 million in private capital investment for decarbonisation. Some €2 million was announced by the Minister for foreign affairs under the shared island civic society fund for 64 cross-Border community projects and a further call for applications opened in April. In January, the Minister for Education and Youth and her Northern Ireland counterpart announced the shared island teachers research exchange, providing educators with a digital community platform for professional learning and collaboration, and in April announced the expansion of the shared island creative connections programme to additional schools. In February, we announced over €2.5 million for 13 projects that enhance visitor experiences along the Wild Atlantic Way and Causeway Coastal Route as part of the shared island tourism brand project. Also in February, the Minister for agriculture, food, fisheries and the marine and his Northern Ireland counterpart launched the shared island cross-Border co-operation programme on tackling bovine TB on a regional basis. In March, the Minister for justice convened a conference in Drogheda, with policing, education and social care representatives from North and South, in co-operation with Northern Ireland partners, on tackling domestic and gender-based violence. Also in March, the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht announced capital funding of €6.2 million for shared island projects to support the Irish language and Ulster Scots culture, heritage and language. In addition, five new shared island funding calls have opened since the start of the year: the Shared Home Place: Diaspora Voices initiative to bring together Irish people abroad, from all traditions, to explore shared heritage and place-based connections; Culture Ireland’s new shared island touring, production and platforms fund to support showcasing, international touring and co-productions by artists from across the island; the Arts Council’s shared island touring scheme to support cross-Border productions and island-wide creative partnerships; a fourth programme on female entrepreneurship under the shared island enterprise scheme; and a new call as part of the creative climate action fund. Additionally, the shared island research programme continues to provide high-quality evidence and analysis. In December, the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance launched a new annual ESRI report series, entitled "Assessing economic trends in Ireland and Northern Ireland". On 2 April, an ESRI shared island report was published on disability rates across the island of Ireland, the first such analysis. ESRI shared island reports on health inequalities, gender-based violence, regional productivity and regional income disparities are in preparation for publication in the second half of the year. Through the shared island initiative, the Government is investing in strategic all-island co-operation, developing our partnerships with the Executive, including through the North-South Ministerial Council, and with the UK Government. Additional information not given on the floor of the House We are fostering deeper connections and mutual understanding across all communities and traditions of this island.
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I thank all the Deputies for their commentary. Deputy Brendan Smith raised the studies that have been under way by the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, and the ESRI under shared island. There is a range of studies. Never before in the history of the State have we had such a body of research commissioned and completed on the differences between systems in Northern Ireland, be it the health service, education and right across the board, and those in the Republic. There is a very good body of research. The Deputy made a very good suggestion that we would task the NESC with doing a more fundamental economic and social study around the central Border economic corridor. I will bring that idea to the shared island unit and NESC and I will come back to the Deputy on it. It is a positive and constructive idea. There are specific challenges in the area in respect of the regional economic make-up, in terms of farming, food, construction and other areas. We could perhaps design a study for NESC to do on that issue and in that area. I thank Deputy Cormac Devlin for his role as Chair of the Good Friday committee. He is very much engaged in all of these issues and very much informed about them. It is interesting that, if you take those tourism projects, we have increased passenger traffic on the Dublin-Belfast rail line by 40%. The shops and retailers in the North are doing much better now than they would have been doing if the shared island initiative had not invested in the rail service. This investment has made it an hourly service and, vice versa, people are coming to the Republic more and there are greater connections between people, which is very important. Recently, under the shared island initiative I met people from the west of Ireland involved in knitting and other crafts and there were also people from loyalist east Belfast. Some people from both groups had never been to the other part of the island. For some, it was their first time being in Belfast and for others it was their first time being in Dublin. People talk about unity and all of that, but if we do not increase that level of interaction between people so that they can get to know each other a bit better and understand each other, then we are at nothing. The Dublin-Derry PSO air service will be funded by the shared island initiative. The Minister of Transport will bring in that public service obligation air service in October of this year. This will be of great value to Derry in particular because the north west has lacked connectivity. The A5 has been snarled in planning and so on. We will have some more announcements under the shared island initiative for a rail service to the north west but it is not as comprehensive as the Dublin-Belfast line, for example. We have done a lot on tourism. The Narrow Water Bridge will transform Carlingford Lough and the Mourne Mountains. That will be completed late next year and it will be a major, iconic manifestation of the investment from the shared island project and initiative. Deputy Crowe proposed a very interesting idea. He articulated it in a very measured way, unlike other times, but I think he is on to something. I was in France last week and we agreed a project with the French authorities to digitise some Irish archives in France. For example, in Vincennes, there are original letters from Wolfe Tone, including his last letter to the French authorities, asking them to look after his wife and family because he had served the French army in the cause of Ireland. There are also documents relating to Samuel Beckett's role in the French resistance. All of that is in documentation, in French, and sometimes our historians and other interested people do not get access to it. We are going to digitise it and make it available to the public more generally. In terms of Britain, I will follow up on what the Deputy said because he made a very good point. Some of it is artefacts and some of it is archival material. Some of it is online and a lot of people can access it but we could do better in terms of an east-west relationship. Under the UK-Ireland annual summits we now have agreed cultural exchanges. There will be theatrical performances by the Abbey Theatre and others in the UK and vice versa. I take the Deputy's point that there is a lot of stuff buried in archives or storerooms that has not seen the light of day. The real issue is that the Deputy wants access to these artefacts and materials for everybody on the island of Ireland if they are held in Britain. That would be a good first step and then material could be exchanged and sent on loan to various museums and libraries. It is a very good idea and I will pursue it. I assure Deputy Ó Murchú that again I will talk to the authorities about the murder of Seamus Ludlow. I do not have the latest details the Deputy has regarding new witnesses and so forth.
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Whether it falls within the legacy framework or not, that is perhaps the best avenue to pursue it. If we can get the legislation completed in Westminster and here, we will. That is an important aspect of it. Even though it happened in 1976 the trauma goes on for the second generation - the grandchildren, cousins and nieces - and the need for closure continues with each succeeding generation. To Deputy Hayes I would say that the most fundamental prerequisite for the unity of the Irish people is reconciliation. We need to build on relationships and really develop them. We also need reform of the Good Friday Agreement in respect of strand 1, which is about how Stormont works. I said this about three years ago at the Alliance Party's annual dinner. The SDLP announced reform plans. Sinn Féin is saying it will announce reform plans. The one party that is opposed to reform plans at the moment or does not believe in the need for it is the DUP. That is an important evolution that we would make politics a bit more normal in terms of where we are now in the configuration of parties and a wider spectrum of views at the moment than may have been there at the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, so there has been a significant degree of evolution. Fianna Fáil was very much involved in the Good Friday Agreement and the Downing Street Declaration. It is a passion for the party and something we are deeply committed to. We have left our mark, along with others, in respect of the major milestones. The shared island initiative is probably one of the most significant initiatives since the Good Friday Agreement that is dealing with the practical connections between people North and South. It is having an impact on people but we do need reconciliation in the Wolfe Tone tradition. Deputy Murphy raised the issue of Lough Neagh and the destruction of many lakes. The nitrates directive will deal with regional plans for water quality across the country. Through the shared island initiative we have supported projects that are trying to deal with Lough Neagh. We have met with the Ministers in the North. They are very frustrated and worried about their capacity to deal with it because of how far the destruction of the habitat and the water quality of the lake has gone. We contributed to trying to help them to deal with the issue. More broadly in terms of lakes across the country and the EPA's work, the Minister for agriculture and the Minister for housing, in the context of the derogation, over the next three years will be implementing significant action plans on water quality throughout the country. There is an agricultural dimension to it, of that there is no doubt. I think I half answered Deputy Tóibín's question with my response to Deputy Hayes. I do believe we need to reform strand 1. The British Government was reluctant to do so for quite some time. However, the Northern Ireland Secretary has now invited parties to make submissions. I have outlined which parties are prepared to make submissions. They can raise some funding themselves but choose not to, as the Deputy knows. There was a recent report in that regard. They are, perhaps, politically unpalatable but they do have that capacity. It does need reform and I hope some reforms will emerge in the next year.
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I apologise. The response to the Deputy’s question was on the next page and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle was looking at me intently. I could not agree more with the Deputy on the North-South interconnector but there have been a lot of political challenges with it. As I said last week, we all need to pause a bit and say what our priorities are. We need the North-South interconnector in terms of the energy needs of those regions and the country at large. The relevant Minister is present now. On the Deputy’s private wires legislation, he has been consistent in his advocacy for private wires. I appreciate that we should not turn infrastructure into political football. We will continue to engage with the Deputy. I think we are making progress on some of these issues and I hope we can bring people along with us. The agencies have some responsibility in that regard as well. I thank the Deputy and I apologise again.
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