The background to this Bill is this country is grinding to a halt in so many ways. Right across the country, critical infrastructure that is necessary for all our lives is grinding to a halt and it is having disastrous effects on people's lives. It is water infrastructure currently. Uisce Éireann came into the infrastructure committee and stated that it will take until 2050 before the gaps in the water infrastructure that are currently blocking the building of homes will be filled. In a housing crisis, that is a startling admission. The Navan to Dublin rail line was promised in 1994. The earliest possible chance currently is 2036. People who started work in 1994 will have retired by the time the rail line is built. The Midleton flood defences were promised in 2015 after Storm Frank and no planning application has been put in yet. We have a massive crisis in terms of infrastructure builds in this country. Regulation is important. There is no doubt that we need regulation to make sure that we have environmental, safety and working standards, but regulation can often be like a pendulum. We can have times when there is too much regulation, and we have times when there is not enough regulation. At this moment in time, we have times when we have too much regulation happening, especially in terms of the climate action Act. The climate action Act is preventing lifesaving projects from going ahead in this country because the balance in terms of people's needs is simply not there any more. We see projects like the Galway ring road being stopped, in large part because of the climate action Act. This has led to tens of thousands of people being stuck in traffic for long periods of time, with all the damage that it does. In the North of Ireland, we have a similar Act that has actually put a stop to the development of the Derry to Dublin road, which, in itself, is leading to significant deaths among people. We need a rebalancing in terms of this. There needs to be a realisation that this Bill only goes some direction in terms of what is needed. It prioritises some of these infrastructural projects and it does so on the basis of what the Government thinks should be prioritised. This means that there is a natural deprioritisation of other projects. We need the whole system to be made far more functional, far more efficient and far faster. I have a question for the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and he may have answered it before. I know it came up in the committee. Will the Bill cover private projects such as data centres, etc.? Will the Minister go on record and answer that query? I would appreciate it. This amendment does look for some level of oversight and engagement with this Chamber and it is a good amendment.

Sentiment score: 0.01

After listening to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I might misquote St. Augustine: "Lord, make me an ecosocialist, but not if the turbines are in my constituency". I think it is a good quote for that. I have a question for the Minister. I do not think this is in the Bill, but he might be able to clear it up. Can this particular Bill affect any project that has already gone through planning in terms of any conditions that have been assigned to the planning application of an existing project? The Minister might be able to think about that and answer it, if he can, on the record. That is important because if there are existing projects that have gone through existing planning and have conditions attached to them, they should not be reopened. The conditions should be applied properly, etc., on that. In terms of what Deputy Cathal Crowe was saying about Ardnacrusha, the Navan to Dublin rail line was built in the 1860s in three years with picks and shovels. As I said, it has already been waiting 40 years from announcement to completion on it. I was in Deputy Crowe's constituency of Clare on Monday meeting people in Broadford, Ennis and Kilrush. The N68 is the main road between Ennis and Kilrush. It is a dangerous road. It is a very narrow road that is a 45-minute drive. It is the main access route to the west of County Clare. It is wide open for accidents and difficulties and, again, it is one of those projects that have been crying out for investment for a long period of time.

Sentiment score: -0.00