I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill as a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery. I welcome some of the initiatives the Minister has taken such as the introduction of an accelerating infrastructure task force and the work it is doing to try to ensure we highlight this at every single level. It is important we hold every public body to account on this and that there is co-operation. It is a major cultural shift, however, and I hope we can achieve that cultural shift because, in many ways, culture is intangible. It is immeasurable until we see delivery. Unfortunately and regrettably, in this country today, when we talk about infrastructure delivery, we talk about decades rather than years. That is simply unacceptable. I see it across the board in my constituency, whether it is a library in Edenderry, a hospice in Tullamore or a primary care centre in Birr. We really need to change that attitude. We see today the need we have to think differently and innovatively wit the likes of modern methods of construction and abnormal loads. We have a conflict where local authorities are preventing abnormal loads and not building plans for roads to specification to accommodate them. That is something that has to be addressed with urgency. Other speakers mentioned and referenced energy. We saw what happened at the weekend. I understand the pain and difficulty and the challenges many have with the cost of living today. It is a real highlight and alarm for us that we now need to treat energy as critical infrastructure. In terms of its importance, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has done exceptional work in this area, but we really need to apply urgency from all of government in this area. We have been to the fore on renewable energy in my county and we have delivered. We generated more energy in January alone than any other county. However, we cannot take it for granted that there will be continuous buy-in from communities in this area. Community benefit funds must be modified in order that they can leave a lasting legacy and are not just investing in the likes of jerseys and scoreboards in local sporting clubs. If that is not sorted out and clarified and wind energy guidelines provided, we are going to lose the people on this one. That is my concern. I ask the Minister and Government to prioritise this in relation to guidelines. On private energy investment, the feedback I receive from the regulators with oversight of energy in the country is that they are not working with private investors. They are not coming to the table and collaborating with them. We need to move away from this culture of what people cannot do to advising private investors and private developers of what they can do. If that does not happen, we are going to continue to see decades for a window of development. On the grid update, what we are doing with buildings that are put aside for PR 6 is very important. However, maybe separately, Deputy Devlin mentioned our reliance on gas internationally. We are essentially relying on international nuclear power from other states. In reality, we need to start that discussion now because every day that we can move away from a dependence on fossil fuels and develop our renewable infrastructure will reduce our dependence on it and have an impact on price. One area that has become an absolute minefield and disaster in terms of development is the use of climate compliance as an effective tool to hamper progress. Far too often, whether it is on a local authority level or in the judicial courts, we hear about snails, mussels and bats and how important they are. I have no issue with any of those, but when it floods a town or delays development from an economic perspective or delivery of an industrial site, housing development or water infrastructure, it is simply not acceptable. We really need to find a way of overcoming these challenges so that we can get on with very serious development. If that does not happen, we are still going to be here in a number of years talking about decades rather than years. This is very important legislation and I welcome it. We have to keep the momentum going and delivering this much-needed infrastructure when we have the funding and finances to work on it. I welcome and I fully support it.

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