Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and Minister of State. It is great to have them here. I will go straight to infrastructure. We all know that the delivery of infrastructure is one of our greatest challenges. It is also one of our greatest opportunities. The Minister mentioned high-quality infrastructure that is critical for enhancing competitive FDI and our domestic enterprise sector. There are also the bottlenecks in housing due to the lack of some infrastructure. Have legislative changes been considered to categorise or classify particular infrastructural projects as critical infrastructure to prevent delays? He spoke about supporting accelerated infrastructure and getting that delivered. We know there are many delays in that delivery. Has the Department considered legislation that would protect a project and make sure it can be fast-tracked? Here I put on my hat as Chair of the higher and further education committee. Will human capital be included in the Department's description of infrastructure? If we are investing in people, our workforce and our education and training, we are also investing in the potential for innovation and potentially cheaper infrastructure in the long run. I have more but will leave it there for now.