Other Members’ Questions

Today, I want to discuss capital infrastructure projects and the legacy this Government can and should leave in the State in relation to important project delivery. We must ensure, while doing this, that we give value for money and that our spending is cost effective. I know that as a country we can do it all. All around us, the largest companies in the world are at a cutting edge. A ten-minute walk from my house, we have one of the most sophisticated semiconductor foundries in Europe. Intel, even with Covid in the background for a period, was able to deliver a multibillion euro plant on time and on budget. Pfizer, with sites in Kildare and Cork, has spent billions, with companies like Amazon and Microsoft building too. This is done with Irish people at the helm - designing, building and overseeing these successful key projects. We need to ensure that the same rigorous application of high standards is shown to State investments. Through good strategic planning, we have seen our economy prosper, wealth being created and our population grow. With that, our infrastructure has become strained and that is why the Government, wisely, has put €275 billion aside for capital investment in infrastructure over the next ten years. As a Government, we have also taken positive steps by passing the Critical Infrastructure Act. We have delivered the Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan, set up the Housing Activation Office and published the detailed national development plan review. We know that we can do things right. The national broadband plan, despite much negativity from the other side of this House, has been a great success. The Luas cross-city extension, which improved public transport in the capital, along with the motorway extensions and bypasses, such as in Tuam and Macroom, have changed people's lives. We can build and we can deliver but we also need to ensure that the €275 billion put aside for infrastructural spending is spent well. There must be accountability, oversight and consequences where the relevant State bodies fail to deliver. Be it failures from the initial scoping of the projects, lack of functionality or management overrides, it is not good enough for heads of State projects and CEOs to come before Oireachtas committees such as mine and the Committee of Public Accounts and talk retrospectively about cost overruns and delays in capital infrastructure. Many of them then shrug their shoulders when they come before us in the PAC, blaming those who came before them, which leads ultimately to no accountability. This is why I am highlighting this today. The people of Ireland need to be assured that the highest standards are being followed, that value for money is being sought and that infrastructure is being delivered economically and efficiently.

I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. I also thank him for his ongoing work on infrastructure and for being my party's spokesperson on infrastructure. I was pleased that we visited Intel recently in his county. Intel has shown a real vote of confidence in Kildare but also in the Irish economy. Deputy Neville is right that we are investing an extraordinary amount in capital. More than a quarter of a trillion euro will be spent on infrastructure in this country in the timeline the Deputy outlined. With that opportunity comes great responsibility to make sure projects are delivered, with value for money to the fore but also with speed and efficiency. There is obviously a cost to the projects not being in place in the here and now. We still live in a country where public infrastructure can be somewhere between 25% and 30% below the EU average. We all know there are real infrastructural choke points in our constituencies and communities, whether it is water, energy, wastewater, transport or social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals and, of course, housing as well. The Deputy is right to point to the fact that there are a lot of things this country does well. The national broadband plan was pretty much universally opposed by most political parties in this House but people now herald it in their own constituency, are delighted with the connections and are happy to turn up to the events. We backed the national broadband plan. It has come in on budget and it has come in ahead. It has made this country the most connected country in the European Union. It has made rural Ireland, including farmyards, extraordinarily connected as well. It was something nobody else in this place wanted but we backed it and it was the right decision to make. There have also been times when things have not gone right in relation to infrastructure. The work the Minister, Deputy Jack Chambers, has done deserves great credit in terms of looking at how we can accelerate infrastructure and what we have done as a Government in bringing the private sector in with the public sector. I never buy this idea put forward by some people that the private sector can just run everything. No, the public sector has an important role to play too, but collaboration between the private and public sector can be really good. Bringing in private sector expertise - I think of the likes of Sean O'Driscoll - along with public sector people to sit around a table and ask what we need to accelerate infrastructure delivery has now given us our action plan. We have seen 95% of the commitments already delivered. All 30 actions in the plan actually remain on track. We have already seen the benefits in speeding it up. There have been 26 weeks saved on the Waterford wastewater treatment plant, which the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, will be pleased to hear. There have been 26 weeks saved on the Ballymore Eustace to Saggart main water project, Deputy Neville will be pleased to hear. That is due to the removal of external reviews and changes in thresholds within the infrastructure guidelines. We have seen 12 months taken off the greater Dublin drainage project. We have seen timelines for maritime area consents now reduced by 30% for fit bodies. This is already having a really positive effect. The ESB is receiving quicker decisions from An Coimisiún Pleanála and well below the statutory timeline of 48 weeks. With MetroLink, we saw the withdraw of the judicial review speeding up the project. We have passed the Critical Infrastructure Act as well. We have a lot of work to do but the reforms in the action plan are beginning to take hold and we have to drive them on every day.

I thank the Tánaiste for the response. I highlighted this because it is so important. Yesterday, I saw glimpses of it at the infrastructure committee. We had Garret Doocey of the housing activation office talking about the projects it did. I asked for specific timelines and transparency to be put in place so the office can come before us biannually at our committee. It is really important we see it in the Chambers and the committees so we know what is being done. Ultimately, then, we can reassure the public that we are on time and the money is being spent. At the same time, we had Uisce Éireann with us and I was able to highlight the issues we have with the water infrastructure in Leixlip. Local businesses put up a post on social media about water infrastructure. The water was out on Sunday and again yesterday. How do you try to run a business in that situation? There is the yin and yang of longer-term projects being run well but we also have to ensure the infrastructure for the current housing and businesses runs properly and well for them. Whether that be cars stuck in traffic or water not working, those issues have to be resolved in our areas too.

I fully agree. The housing activation office and Garret Doocey are doing a very good job, along with the team and the seconding in of people from other State agencies. The Deputy is right that we have allocated a lot of money and communities now want to see those projects delivered quickly. Each of those projects are enablers for housing right across the country as well. I personally believe there are two ways the Government should operate: the Government should help when it can and get the hell out of the way when it cannot. Infrastructure requires both. We are helping by providing a quarter of a trillion euro in investments but, also, sometimes we need to get out of the way in terms of bureaucracy and red tape - is there anything to be said for another permit, review or body? That is really what the accelerating infrastructure taskforce action plan is about. We help by providing the funding and get out of the way when it comes to far too much bureaucracy and red tape. I have given tangible examples to the House today, on foot of Deputy Neville's question, of where we are already seeing the benefit of speeding up those timelines. We have to keep at that.