2. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation when the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 will be enacted; the way in which it will comply with Ireland’s obligations under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 given the limitations that will be imposed on legal challenges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27880/26]

Sentiment score: -0.14

I ask the Minister to outline when the Critical Infrastructure Bill will be enacted and how it is going to comply with our obligations, as they currently stand, under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, given that section 15 of this Act is going to be disapplied under section 7 of the new Bill.

Sentiment score: -0.53

First, I will go back to what I said on Second Stage. I am disappointed that we could not do even some limited, quick pre-legislative scrutiny on this Bill. I think we could have teased through some of these things. I want to go back to a point the Minister made there. He was talking about building the low-carbon economy but in his concluding remarks on Second Stage he referenced, for example, the ring road in Galway which, in my view - and I know there are many views on it - is hardly the best example of climate-sustainable development. In particular, could the removal of section 15 stop a piece of critical infrastructure from being prioritised because it could have, for example, positive climate benefits? I am talking about a new train line and potentially a new Luas line. Could that apply to data centres under the Minister's definition of "critical infrastructure"?

Sentiment score: 0.00

I do support in principle what the Minister is trying to do here, even though I may have some issues with the way he is trying to do it. There is a piece in the infrastructure task force report on the Minister for justice seeking to put the judicial review process on a statutory basis. Surely that would address the issue the Minister is talking about in terms of judicial review. I have concerns here, which the Minister did not address when he responded to me, on what exactly could be defined as critical infrastructure and whether the State could define something. We have seen a worrying precedent in the Dublin Airport passenger cap and the LNG terminal. I am just concerned at this proposal to give the Executive power to disapply a public body duty under the State's climate Act to perform actions that are consistent with our climate goals.

Sentiment score: 0.12