Is é buninfreastruchtúr ceann de na rudaí is tábhachtaí d’aon cheantar nó pobal atá ina gcónaí i gceantar tuaithe ach go háirithe, áit go minic nach bhfuil an buninfreastruchtúr ann. Mar gheall air sin, ar ndóigh, is maith an rud é go bhfuilimid á phlé seo agus ag breathnú air. Tá súil agam go gciallóidh sé go ndíreoidh an Rialtas ar chúrsaí infrastruchtúr, ach go háirithe sna ceantair cosúil leis an gceantar in atá mé féin i gConamara. Critical infrastructure is something I have been raising with the Minister for a long time, specifically basic infrastructure, something we often just do not have in the west of Ireland. Critical infrastructure is the bedrock of a strong, functioning economy. Housing, health, transport, water and energy are the essentials - the necessities - to be able to work, to be able to be healthy and to be safe. We desperately need critical infrastructure to be delivered. This is a deficit created by chronic underfunding and a lack of ambition from successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. I am keen to engage with any proposals from the Government to address this infrastructural deficit, but, to my mind, this Bill in front of us falls at the first hurdle. It is a Critical Infrastructure Bill without a definition of “critical infrastructure”. Under this legislation, it would solely be at the Minister’s discretion to designate projects as critical infrastructure. In practice, this means that a Minister could decide that a new data centre, a premium office block or a new stadium is critical infrastructure and, as such, would be fast-tracked through that delivery pipeline, while real critical infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, roads, railways and bridges, i gConamara ach go háirithe, are not guaranteed critical status and could be left by the wayside and not sped up at all. To be honest, I believe this omission is a huge oversight. Clearer guidelines have to be included in this legislation as to what actually constitutes "critical infrastructure". I will be putting in amendments in relation to this aspect. Sílim gurb í an fhadhb is mó atá ann mar gheall ar chúrsaí infrastruchtúir ná nach bhfuil muinín ag daoine go ndéanfaidh Fine Gael agus Fianna Fáil beart de réir a mbriathar. The Government just simply cannot be trusted on infrastructure delivery. The infrastructure that has been prioritised by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the last decades has failed people. It has served big business over the interests of working people and families. We are the data centre capital of Europe. Brand-new office blocks are sitting empty and our cities are full of new hotels instead of new homes. Yet investment in the critical infrastructure really needed has been delayed or discontinued. There has been inaction, delays and bad value for taxpayer’s money. This is the track record of critical infrastructural delivery by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, a record best known by the projects that have still not been delivered, not least the national children’s hospital. All the Government’s attempts so far to speed up infrastructure delivery have had the opposite effect. The disastrous strategic housing development legislation introduced in 2017 caused havoc in the planning system, only to be replaced by the equally ineffective large-scale residential development legislation. Every single time the Government tries to speed up delivery, it slows it down. The biggest obstacle to delivering critical infrastructure with urgency has always been Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government. Before the recess, the Government used its majority in the infrastructure committee to waive this legislation from having necessary pre-legislative scrutiny. We did push a vote on this, and it was very disappointing that pre-legislative scrutiny could not have been accommodated on something as important as this legislation. This was done without providing the committee with a finished copy of the legislation. I think that was totally and utterly unacceptable. It meant we did not get a chance to hear from experts in relation to the legislation. We did not get a chance to hear from Uisce Éireann, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the HSE, environmental groups, housing associations and many other groups that have been suffering as a result of the lack of critical infrastructure being delivered. I hope that this legislation is not rushed now on Committee Stage, and that it will be given the time needed. We must make sure that critical infrastructure is actually done right. We are going to engage on Committee Stage and, of course, bring in our amendments in relation to this legislation. We are going to scrutinise this legislation with our eyes totally and utterly wide open. It was really unfortunate, though, that pre-legislative scrutiny was not allowed.
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Go raibh maith agat.
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Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.
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Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta.
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