Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the witnesses for coming here today. In 2018, the construction sector group was set up in the Department of public expenditure. I am interested to know how this new group is different from that group. When the infrastructure unit was first announced a couple of weeks ago, to me it sounded very similar to the construction sector group. One of the issues I had with the construction sector group was that it did a lot of good work and produced a lot of recommendations but they were not necessarily taken on in the way they should have been by the Government. I am also very interested to know what exactly the interaction will be like with the Government's new strategic housing activation office. What sort of cross-communication will there be and will staff be working across both divisions? I have a slight concern that the staffing the group will get should not take staffing from, say, transport, housing or other Departments. Are the timelines and the guidelines in the Planning and Development Act realistic and deliverable? How will it improve the delivery of infrastructure? If the witnesses do not have it today, they may be able to come back with a list of the most significant projects that will be supported by this division and what projects this division will allow the Department to speed up.