Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

That will determine how I will frame my questions and how we will work together. We are not looking at the past. I am also a member of the Committee of Public Accounts which is looking at the children's hospital. I would like to think we have learned from failures in that regard, so the issue will be how we encompass those lessons in how we work in the future. I could bring in a myriad of issues across north Kildare where there has been a huge failure of infrastructure delivery. A whole lost of things agreed in local development plans have not been delivered. As much as I agree with the Cathaoirleach's point about what we need to deliver on a large scale, we also have to look at the lower scale of how local authorities deliver. Sitting here in Dublin city centre, we will not get things delivered where they are needed in different areas. Ultimately, that is where projects will be overseen and delivered by the engineers onsite. How do we ensure that is done as opposed to having some nice-to-have documents.

Deputy Cronin and I could point to the absence of a second bridge in Celbridge. We put into a local area plan in 2017 that we could deliver 2,000 houses if the bridge was built. Without it, there is a restriction on zoning. We could point out something similar with the LIHAF road in Maynooth that could have released land and we can see the same in Confey. I could point out where 6,000 houses could be potentially delivered. They were all part of local area plans but because basic infrastructure has not been delivered in our constituency, we did not get them.

The Chair spoke about large-scale projects such as MetroLink. If we want to deliver housing, I could talk here about pipes that burst on the Leixlip- Maynooth road every Friday. It typically happens about 7.30 p.m. just to aggravate people even more. That is not even mentioning the schools we do not have.

In a couple of months, we will be talking about putting more houses into north Kildare. If we are adding more houses, we have to build infrastructure. There is no point getting the infrastructure in 2032 and the houses in 2052 but unfortunately that is how things are done. While it is important to have a committee dealing with infrastructure, we also need a set of criteria as regards who the committee will be working with. Next week, we will meet the National Transport Authority and the Transport Infrastructure Ireland. We will also need to meet local authorities about the houses they will ultimately deliver.

As regards Mr. Moloney's role, it is not unwieldy but it extends across a group of Departments which will make it difficult for the Department to deliver. I understand it will be complex, particularly with the responsibilities Mr. Moloney has. Committee members are ultimately the ones who will be responsible. We will have to stand for election in four years’ time and answer questions about why this has not been delivered. It is a significant responsibility and that is why it is so important to us that this committee delivers. I am setting out my side and I am sure the context for other members is similar.

How will the Department be able to work with other Departments? Will it be able to reach down below those Departments? We talk about housing and local government. Transport goes through the NTA and TII. Will the Department be able to do that or will it have to go through the Departments?