I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to bring the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 forward for consideration by the Dáil today. The Bill is a central pillar of the Government’s infrastructure reforms. While its impact will be wide-ranging, it is a very clear and focused piece of legislation that is to the point. Its objective is to accelerate the provision of infrastructure in energy, transport, water and other sectors to get more housing built, make progress towards our climate objectives and support the continued social and economic development of our nation. Its rapid development and progression serve as a tangible demonstration of the Government’s commitment to meaningfully accelerate those strategically important projects that are essential to the State’s economic and social development. The events of recent days have reinforced and underscored the central importance of critical infrastructure to the very functioning of our economy. We have also seen the severe consequences across our society when infrastructure fails. Ireland has long struggled with an infrastructural deficit. We have made some progress in closing this gap, with the difference between Ireland and our EU neighbours estimated to have halved over the past 30 years. A gap still remains, however, with most experts, international and domestic, suggesting the gap is equivalent to a 25% to 30% deficit in capital stock compared to our peers. What this means in practical terms is not enough housing to provide accommodation for our people, it means not enough renewable electricity to reach our climate targets and it means more time spent by many commuters frustrated in traffic. If we cannot build the infrastructure fast enough, this deficit will increase as our economy and population continue to grow. The risk this poses to our society is unacceptable. The global economic uncertainty makes the need for strong and resilient infrastructure even greater. Our domestic and international competitiveness is the key to our continued economic success. Nationally, the single greatest challenge we face is delivering housing and housing-enabled infrastructure. According to the International Institute for Management Development, IMD’s world competitiveness rankings 2025, we are one of the most competitive economies in the world. However, under the heading of infrastructure, our performance continues to lag behind some other developed nations. Within a few short years, we will face critical shortages of power and water alongside congestion across our transport networks. At a time when decarbonisation is among our highest priorities, we have the slowest approval processes for renewable electricity in the EU. The case for change is clear. It is urgent and, as evidenced by the publication of this critical legislation in addition to the extensive package of reforms we are progressing, it is the Government’s highest priority. The pace of infrastructure delivery over the coming years will determine our economic success, our climate resilience and the quality of life enjoyed by communities across the country. The effective and timely delivery of new infrastructure will be the single most important determinant of our future prosperity. Ireland is at a critical juncture. The pace of infrastructure delivery over the years to come will determine our economic competitiveness. In terms of the guiding principle, the work undertaken to accelerate the deliver of infrastructure its to create the conditions where the essential goods and services people need are plentiful and where the focus is on what is delivered. Over the past 20 years, we have had lots of layering of new regulations and processes that have been designed to improve infrastructure delivery but many of them are having unintended consequences because of the sheer weight of them. If we want infrastructure to move, we must strip away what is unnecessary. Essential protections remain vital, but progress requires accepting some risk and being clear about priorities so we can reach a position where our future is defined by possibility rather than constant constraint. That requires the relevant water, power and transport infrastructure to fuel the needs of our economy and to supply the scale of housing that our population requires. Since I was appointed Minister for public expenditure, I have made accelerating infrastructure my number one priority. An infrastructure division was formed in my Department in April last year, including staff from key semi-State agencies. We formed the a task force to provide strategic guidance and expert input. Six independent experts, experienced in infrastructure delivery, combined with six members, taken from those commercial semi-States at the front line of infrastructure development and the local government sector worked with my officials to identify the barriers to infrastructure and the solutions needed to overcome them. This was complemented by a public consultation launched in June. This consultation laid bare the huge concern over the pace and quality of infrastructure delivery in Ireland. Overly long timelines, fragmented governance and misalignment with climate and environmental goals all featured heavily in the views expressed. In July, I published the Department 's assessment of the 12 most pressing barriers to infrastructure. This was not an exhaustive list; rather these 12 barriers were considered by the Department to represent the most impactful problems, delaying infrastructure provision. This assessment of barriers laid the foundation for the next phase of work, and in December last year, I published the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan. This sets out a comprehensive programme of actions designed to speed up the delivery of critical infrastructure across the State. The plan sets out 30 targeted, time-bound actions grouped under four pillars, each addressing a key area of reform. The measures provide for a whole-of-government approach to ensure that capital investment translates into timely, co-ordinated delivery of the infrastructure. Legal reform is the first action pillar listed in the report and enacting legislation to accelerate the provision of critical infrastructure is the second. This leads me on to the Bill we are discussing. I will briefly summarise what the Bill will do. It will allow the Government to designate certain infrastructure projects or programmes as critical. In response to this designation, all public bodies involved at any stage in the authorisation process for this infrastructure must prioritise and accelerate the authorisation process applied to the maximum extent possible while still meeting their other statutory duties. It also disapplies section 15 of the climate Act to their consideration of designated projects or programmes. By establishing a clear legal basis for prioritisation, it will reduce ambiguity and ensure that critical projects and programmes receive focused and co-ordinated attention across Departments, regulators and agencies. It will address the unacceptable delays in our infrastructure approval processes by mandating whole-of-State co-operation and creating a fast-track pathway for critical projects and programmes without skipping steps in the approval process or weakening any safeguards. The Bill forms a central pillar of the Government’s broader infrastructure acceleration agenda, signalling a significant shift toward fast-tracking strategically important projects deemed essential to the State’s economic and social development. The Bill is focused, and I will through it section by section. Section 1 is the interpretation. It notes that infrastructure is anything that enables the essential facilities and systems of the State to function effectively and includes, but is not limited to: transport facilities, including ports and airports, and transport systems, including roads and railways; energy generation, transmission and distribution systems; and water supply, wastewater and waste management systems. It further sets out that a project is something the purpose of which is the delivery of infrastructure, and is funded by capital investment, by or on behalf of the State or by on behalf of a public body. A programme is simply a collection of two or more projects that are intended to achieve a common purpose. Finally, it is worth noting that the section defines an authorisation as an award, approval, decision, licence, consent, permit or other authority required, granted or made, by or under an enactment or otherwise, to enable a project or programme to proceed in whole or in part. Fundamentally, this section sets out the necessary underpinning terms that describe the specifics of what the provisions in the Bill apply to. As I have consistently stated, the focus for acceleration will be on the critical infrastructure necessary to underpin the development of all other infrastructure in the country. Every development, regardless of purpose, needs energy, water and a transport link to operate. If we can accelerate the provision this fundamental network infrastructure, it will lead to broader momentum and acceleration across all other types of development, particularly housing. To be eligible for inclusion, this infrastructure must be built by or on behalf of the State. Section 2 simply notes that nothing in the Bill will affect existing or future obligations of the State under EU law. This is included to demonstrate that the Bill will not interfere in any way with our EU commitments, whether they relate to environmental protection or climate change targets or more broadly. Section 3 deals with how projects or programmes will be designated as critical infrastructure. The Minister for public expenditure will make a recommendation to Government in respect of an individual project or programme. The Government will consider the recommendation and, if approved, an order designating a project or programme as critical infrastructure will be laid before this House. The section also lists those factors that the Minister may have regard to in making a recommendation to the Government. An administrative process will be put in place to facilitate those recommendations but I do not plan to commence this process until after the Oireachtas has approved this legislation. As such, I reiterate that my priority will be on recommending those projects or programmes that facilitate critical infrastructure across the energy, transport and water sectors with a particular focus on infrastructure that will support additional housing but the legislation specifically does not preclude other infrastructure types. Section 4 determines who the provisions of this Bill apply to. In short, a relevant public body is any public body which has a role in the approval process for designated infrastructure. This means anyone in the development chain who must give an approval, licence, consent, permission or any kind of authorisation for the infrastructure. This is a deliberately wide net to ensure that the acceleration process will be comprehensive. Section 5 is the core aspect of the Bill. It sets out the specific duties that will be applied to relevant public bodies. There are six core duties that they will be required to perform on the enactment of this Bill. First, public bodies will be required to prioritise any functions they must perform in relation to designated critical infrastructure projects or programmes above their other duties. Next, each public body must take all necessary steps to accelerate their consideration of the designated project or programme and avoid any undue delays. Followed by this, the relevant public body must reduce the time required for any decision in relation to a project or programme. They must make every effort to parallel their processes with the authorisations that may be required by other public bodies. Next, they are required to co-ordinate, prioritise and sequence their functions in respect of managing risks and constraints. Finally, a public body must allocate the resources that may be required to fulfil its duties under the Bill. The Bill does not dictate the decision that public bodies must reach. Instead, it sets out a clear articulation of the number of projects or programmes that the Government considers vital to the public interest and mandates that public bodies need to accelerate their decision-making processes with regard to these projects. This idea has been developed following on from the engagement I have had with respect to many of these public bodies. Specifically, they have been clear that a focussed articulation of what the most important projects are will be beneficial. I am confident that providing this and giving public bodies the obligation but also the vires to accelerate their decision-making processes will lead to much faster decision making in respect of identified projects. Section 6 allows the Minister for public expenditure to issue directions to any relevant public bodies. These directions may require the provision of information on the measures that the public body has adopted and the outcome of these actions. The purpose of this is to allow for a tracking and evaluation of the actions taken by each public body and the impact these actions may have had on the approval timelines for a designated project or programme. The provision also allows direction to be issued requiring a public body to adopt such measures as may be deemed necessary for the purposes of carrying out its duties. Section 7 disapplies section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 from designated projects and programmes. This is the only substantive change that is being made to existing legislation and I will shortly outline the reasons for this. Section 8 provides for regulations to be issued under the Bill when enacted. The only power for regulations is to allow additional public bodies to be designated in the event of any other legal change that might mean a body has a function in relation to a designated project or programme but is not captured within the definitions. Section 9 is a standard provision that allows for any expenses incurred in the administration of the Bill when enacted to be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. The final section of the Bill sets out the Short Title and commencement of the Bill. We want to advance this as quickly as possible. The Bill effectively disapplies section 15 of the climate change Act from those projects and programmes that are designated as critical infrastructure by the Government. It does not mean that climate considerations will be set aside in these projects. Every Exchequer-funded project is already required to measure and price its greenhouse gas emissions under the infrastructure guidelines. Similarly, every individual project is also required to undergo a climate adaptation assessment to ensure it does not give rise to undue risks. All other climate and environmental obligations will still apply, such as building regulations and the use of low-carbon cement in construction. It was never intended that the climate action Act would be used to allow the decisions taken by public bodies in relation to individual projects or programmes to be challenged in the courts. Disapplication of section 15 removes an unnecessary layer that is driving a wider increase and risk around judicial reviews. It is abundantly clear that some of these reviews are being taken for ideological reasons, often steeped in a degrowth agenda that seeks to frustrate the delivery of critical infrastructure, some of which can be connected to renewable projects. That is not an agenda that is supported by this Government. The accelerating infrastructure report and actions also commit to the development of a robust emergency powers framework that can meaningfully accelerate the delivery of critical infrastructure. The work on this legislation is proceeding in parallel this year. The Government’s prudent management means there is money to deliver across an ambitious capital investment programme. In the past five years, more than €65 billion has been invested in capital infrastructure projects across our country through the national development plan, NDP. Over the next ten years, that will rise to €275 billion. Total capital investment in 2026 alone is expected to reach €19.1 billion. This is the largest capital investment programme the State has ever seen. However, if this funding is to be delivered and if its outcomes are to be as expected, funding needs to be matched with reform. The accelerating infrastructure report is one of the most ambitious reform agendas ever adopted by the State. It is a cornerstone across this legislative agenda today, but also in the context of the emergency powers framework we are working on. The Bill is all about accelerating the delivery of critical infrastructure for our country. It will do so by prioritising those projects that the Government identifies and this House endorses above all others. It will create a fast-track channel for these projects through existing authorisation processes. Relevant public bodies will have to consider how each of them can reprioritise within their organisations and work better with other agencies while still undertaking the respective due diligence required for each project. There will still be public participation at each stage of the development process, and the legislation will not change this. With regard to the changes in the climate Act, the only practical impact of this Bill will be to remove an avenue for judicial reviews, one that, in my view, is being used to delay rather than accelerate climate action in some instances. The Bill is ambitious, but ambition is what is required if we are to meet the infrastructure needs of our population. I hope that we can have a robust debate and engagement today on the Bill. It will not weaken climate protections and it will not diminish public participation in infrastructure development. Rather, it allows the Government, with the endorsement of this House, to identify the most critical infrastructure projects and provides public bodies with the vires to treat these projects with the urgency they absolutely need. I look forward to working with everyone in this House in bringing forward and advancing this legislation in the coming weeks.

Sentiment score: 0.13

Fair play to Deputy Ó Murchú. He always gets a lot in during the few minutes. I thank all Members of the House for their contributions to this evening's debate. We look forward to further engagement on the Bill as it progresses to Committee Stage. It is clear from the broader contributions that there is a consensus on the need to really reform how we deliver infrastructure. As I said at the outset, the publication of the Bill achieves one of the many actions in the Accelerating Infrastructure report. Really it is about the cumulative implementation of this, which will drive a much quicker and transformative approach to accelerating infrastructure. I have set out why radical change is necessary. We have a persistent infrastructure deficit, the consequences of which we in this House have to deal with and which are articulated by Members daily. Without radical reform we simply will not close the gap, leaving our people stuck in traffic and with too few homes to house our population, and build the infrastructure to bridge and affirm the wider ambition we have for economic and social infrastructure for the State. The Critical Infrastructure Bill places obligations on the Government. It requires us to take hard decisions about prioritisation and to identify a small number of those projects or programmes that are fundamental to everything else we wish to achieve. Others have said that and Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned it. Water, energy and transport systems are the foundations that drive overall delivery and economic development, whether it is in housing or other areas. By doing this we send a clear and unambiguous signal to the entire system that the projects and programmes are of strategic importance and in the public interest. It allows public bodies to reallocate the resources necessary to prioritise the consideration of these projects. The net effect of this should be a significant acceleration of these critical projects and programmes. This will in turn enable the acceleration of all other economic and social infrastructure necessary for society to thrive. The Bill is short and carefully targeted legislation. It does not reference specific projects. It will provide the Government with the statutory power to designate projects or programmes as critical infrastructure by order. We have had some questions about whether it is all projects, public and private. It is clear in the definition of a project in the Bill that it is a project the purpose of which is the delivery of infrastructure and that is funded by capital investment by or on behalf of the State or by or on behalf of a public body. I think that clarifies this matter, which was raised by Deputies. Any such order will be laid before Dáil Éireann, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the order has been laid, it can be annulled accordingly. The Government will consider specific projects or programmes that may be designated as critical infrastructure following my written recommendation. It is important to consider that the process of designating projects can only work if restraint is exercised in the designation. Designating too many projects will not allow the licensing, consenting and planning bodies to effectively prioritise. It is intended that the process of identifying which projects or programmes are designated and subject to accelerated consideration will commence quickly after the Bill has been enacted. Once the Government has designated a project or programme, every public body that is involved in a licence, consent or permission associated with the critical infrastructure will be required to prioritise, avoid delay, reduce timelines, parallel processes and co-operate to fast-track critical infrastructure through their existing processes. It also allows and mandates whole-of-state co-operation and ensures critical projects and programmes receive co-ordinated attention across Departments, regulators and agencies. Establishing a clear legal basis for this prioritisation ensures that it receives the fast and co-ordinated attention across the system. The legislation gives the Minister power to issue a direction to any of the public bodies involved in the process, and this will be used to drive improved timelines and performance and, if necessary, mandate all public bodies to take the necessary steps to accelerate their processes. Deputies will be aware, and it was mentioned by a number of Deputies, that I was granted exemption from pre-legislative scrutiny, but this request was not made lightly. We have set an ambitious timeline for implementation because we want to drive delivery and it is in the overriding public interest that we find the means of accelerating certain critical projects and programmes that are fundamental to our provision of social and economic infrastructure. This is why the waiving of pre-legislative scrutiny is important in that context. I value and welcome a thorough and robust discussion on the legislation at the committee as well. I will engage constructively with all Deputies on that to get this right. It has been argued by some in this House, and there were many mentions here, that the solution to delays is more resourcing or staffing for public bodies. In fact, that is not the issue in many instances. An Coimisiún Pleanála has almost doubled its staffing in the last ten years while staffing in the Environmental Protection Agency is up nearly 50% in five years. Fundamentally, what we need to do is reform, simplify and accelerate much of the bureaucratic practice that has seen the development process for infrastructure double in the past 20 years. There has also been reference to section 15 of the climate Act. The disapplication of it means that public bodies can no longer be challenged on how they have assessed these considerations in their decision-making processes and it removes an avenue for judicial review, nothing more. I take the example of the reaction to the Galway ring road only last week and the concern by certain interest groups that they will not be able to use section 15 to try to use the courts to block a piece of critical infrastructure for the west. There are already many comments from Friends of the Environment wanting to use section 15 to stop a piece of critical infrastructure. I have canvassed in Galway and in the west, as have Deputies across the House. Every second door I knocked on wanted to see that happen. If we want the industrial development to happen in the west and if we want to see housing built in the west, then we cannot have the weaponisation of the climate Act for a piece of critical infrastructure. That is just one example in the context of the wider reform piece, which is why it is important to disapply section 15 in the context of critical infrastructure for the State. The Critical Infrastructure Bill seeks to fast-track the process for designating projects and programmes through the existing processes, but more fundamental reform of our legal and regulatory systems is still necessary. That is what is happening in the context of my Department's regulatory simplification unit. Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned other areas that require attention, which they do. Some of that has a European context that we are working on in the context of the EU Presidency. There is also the wider simplification agenda where there are unnecessary layers and fragmented processes that have come from Europe. We are doing what we can achieve within our own legislative framework but there is a need for further reform. My wider point is that taking the 30 actions and interventions and reforms cumulatively is what builds momentum in the infrastructure cycle. That is why in other areas we are simplifying and streamlining the regulatory environment and we are currently working with key regulatory bodies and Departments to identify such reforms with a particular focus on consenting, permitting and licensing processes across sectors such as the energy, water and transport sectors. This infrastructure is necessary to support the development of all other social and economic infrastructure right across society. It is expected that reforms introduced as part of this process will not simply benefit critical infrastructure projects but will also serve to simplify regulatory processes for infrastructure more generally. If timelines can be reduced and systems paralleled, all projects will move quicker from conception to final delivery, thereby allowing them to open up and be delivered in a more accelerated way for people across the country. We have taken note of the wider debate this evening and as we look to the coming decade the choices and the reforms we make about infrastructure delivery will determine our economic competitiveness, our climate resilience, housing construction and the quality of life enjoyed by communities across the country. I look forward to working with colleagues as we advance this legislation through the House.

Sentiment score: 0.08