2026-04-16

5. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to provide clarity on what can be designated as critical infrastructure within the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27581/26]

The Critical Infrastructure Bill is currently going through the Oireachtas, but it does not provide a full definition of critical infrastructure and seems to leave it up to the Minister of the day as to what is and what is not critical infrastructure. I ask the Minister to provide some clarity on what he means by critical infrastructure.

Allowing the Government to designate certain projects or programmes as critical infrastructure is the core of the Critical Infrastructure Bill. In response to a designation, all public bodies involved at any stage in the authorisation process must prioritise and accelerate the authorisation process applied to the maximum extent possible. By establishing a clear legal basis for prioritisation, the legislation 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 create a fast-track pathway for critical projects and programmes to drive delivery. Section 3 of the Bill deals with the designation process. The text of the Bill has been published in full along with an explanatory memorandum. This section of the Bill allows the Minister for public expenditure to make a recommendation to Government that a designation order be made in respect of a project or programme. There are a number of matters that I may have regard to in making a recommendation. They are set out in section 3 of the Bill. They include: the need to ensure effective and efficient delivery of a project or programme; whether delay or failure to deliver a project or programme may have adverse economic or social consequences for the State; whether a project or programme may impact in a positive or negative manner on the delivery of any other project or programme; the national development plan; and such other matters in relation to infrastructure as I may consider appropriate. Project and programme are defined in section 1 of the Bill. A project means 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. Infrastructure is also defined in the section. The definition refers to any infrastructure that enables essential facilities and systems of the State to function effectively and includes, but is not limited to, energy, transport and water systems. Following a recommendation from the Minister for public expenditure, the Government will, by order, designate projects or programmes as critical infrastructure. Every designation order will be laid before Dáil Éireann, which may nullify the order within 21 days. The process of considering which programmes or projects I may recommend to the Government will commence after the Oireachtas has passed the-----

Thank you, Minister. I call Deputy Farrell.

I understand that the Minister is giving me the layout of the Bill and exactly how it will work. My interest is in what he would deem to be critical infrastructure. Obviously, we have serious issues when it comes to the delivery of critical infrastructure. I think of the likes of homes and houses, hospitals, public transport and infrastructure of scale. At the moment, what is being built an awful lot of the time is private student accommodation which is then rented at extraordinarily high prices. We see empty office buildings and that type of construction happening. I understand that the Minister is saying it is through the public system and not private, but it would be interesting to hear what he considers and deems to be critical infrastructure.

As to what we have tried to do, the Deputy and others will appreciate that if we were to list a load of projects in primary legislation, there may be another project which will emerge and which is of a critical nature. The other challenge is that this particular list then gets caught in 2026. In four years, or when a future government wishes to update the national development plan, there needs to be an ability to utilise this legislative framework to continue to designate projects appropriately. That is why we have established the statutory framework around how projects will be designated. Obviously, they are connected to the national development plan. It relates to State-funded projects, and I have set out the broad legislative framework as to how the decision will be made. It is important to have flexibility around it being an enabling framework to allow future governments to drive delivery. That is why we have not specified the particular projects or programmes in the Bill. I have set out the broad definition, as the Deputy mentioned, regarding how the designation process will work and what is defined as infrastructure within-----

Thank you, Minister. I call Deputy Farrell.

My party colleagues and I want to work constructively with the Minister on this Bill. We understand that our people and our communities need critical infrastructure to be delivered with urgency. We want to engage with this legislation and scrutinise it in order that it is fit for purpose because, as the Minister says, the critical infrastructure that is built by this Government will be in use for decades. Therefore, it is essential that this Government gets critical infrastructure delivery right. It has been incredibly disappointing that this Government has so far tried to evade scrutiny and limit the opportunity for TDs, relevant experts and stakeholders to look at and improve this Bill. Conversation is always better when we are looking at legislation. Will the Minister make a commitment that this Bill will get a full hearing on Committee Stage? That would be incredibly important. I do not sit on that committee. I understand Deputy Sheehan does. I have party colleagues who do. Giving it that time would be incredibly important.

Absolutely. What we have tried to do in the first instance is build the evidence base as to where the issues were, which we did last year. There has been strong stakeholder engagement. The report was published last July. There has been engagement with the Oireachtas committee on the challenges and the delivery gaps which exist. There has been a co-ordinated response from the stakeholder community and others in what has informed the drafting process around this Bill. The issue with doing pre-legislative scrutiny is that there is a risk this would lapse into the autumn, and we want to use the Bill to get projects done. Nearly everybody in the Opposition would share the objective of getting them delivered, whether it is critical grid infrastructure, which we need to build our low-carbon, renewable future, whether it is some of the public transport projects that have been referred to, or I can list some of the other areas as well. The Bill is a very clear enabling framework, and I want to be able to enact it quickly. Again, I want to work with everyone to get it right as well.