Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his question. In the 2020 to 2022 period, construction inflation was in double digit territory and the pipeline of projects that were in progress was not being delivered, constructed or tendered for at that point. There was a significant impact and respective delays. One thing that is emerging from the wider work we are doing on the infrastructure task force is the scale of cost that is embedded when particular projects are taking endless time. We know the impact of that. Even though construction inflation was only 3% last year in the tender price index overall in the economy, we know that delays of years in some instances through the planning process, which we need to change, are contributing to higher costs and more difficult choices with trade-offs in future years. That is why a re-examination of every element of the project life cycle from initiation and design right through to delivery is something we are really focused on in the work that we are doing on barriers to infrastructure delivery because we know the ultimate cost is higher if we continue to wait. That is one of the most important reforms we are seeking to advance.