Sinn Féin will support measures that genuinely speed up the delivery of critical infrastructure, and there is no question that this State needs urgent investment and delivery at scale. This Government has a clear problem with delivery. Communities are repeatedly told that projects are coming, funding is allocated and plans are in place, but what they experience instead are delays, stalled timelines, missed deadlines and a lack of urgency. The infrastructure deficit we face today has been built up over decades. Communities across the State have been left waiting while projects are delayed, scaled back or abandoned altogether. You cannot build on top of announcements. You cannot drive on announcements. You cannot grow an economy on announcements or on plans and strategies. This Government cannot be trusted on infrastructure delivery. Its record is one of inaction, delay and poor value for money time and time again. We now have legislation that does not even clearly define what “critical infrastructure” is in its own title. It does not define the term and that is a serious weakness. It gives the Minister, and whoever is the Minister of the day, wide discretion to designate projects, creating a real risk that developments will be fast-tracked without proper scrutiny, while the infrastructure that people actually rely on continues to fall behind. The Government can designate and announce as much as it likes, but it will all be judged on whether it delivers. Nowhere is the failure to deliver starker than in Waterford and across the south east. The south east has 9% of the State’s population yet receives just 1.8% of major capital spending. It now has the lowest level of per capita investment of any region in the State. None of that is an accident. It reflects a clear and sustained pattern of neglect that cannot be ignored. The consequences of that neglect are visible across Waterford. The urgent safety upgrades to the N25 in Waterford are stalled, while the N24 has not progressed. Public transport investment lags far behind demand. The Waterford to Rosslare line has been shelved and there have been cuts to wider rail services, including the Waterford to Dublin route. As the Minister knows, Waterford Airport was left without proper State backing, to the point that a private investor had to step in to fund the runway extension. In healthcare, University Hospital Waterford still does not have full 24-7 cardiac care. In education, the South East Technological University continues to receive the lowest level of funding of any technological university. Water and wastewater infrastructure is acting as a direct barrier to housing and development, with urgent upgrades needed in Lismore, Bunmahon, Crook, Passage, Portlaw and beyond, yet these projects are repeatedly deprioritised. In Dunmore East, the fishing harbour requires development to support the local industry. The wider harbour has clear potential for tourism, while cé Helvic i nGaeltacht na nDéise remains effectively unusable due to the lack of dredging there. In housing, targets have been missed to such an extent that people are now struggling to live and remain in their own communities. Entire villages and towns are facing a demographic cliff edge. That is the lived reality of infrastructure failure in Waterford. For rural communities, the impact is even more acute. When infrastructure is delayed or denied it is rural towns and villages that feel it first and hardest. Without roads, public transport, water and wastewater capacity and healthcare provision, there is no foundation for growth. If this legislation is to have any credibility, it must focus on prioritising the infrastructure that communities actually need, alongside clear accountability for delivery and fair, balanced regional investment. Waterford and the south east and rural communities across the State deserve the same level of ambition, investment and delivery as anywhere else.

Sentiment score: -0.12