Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I had a meeting with the Tánaiste in Government Buildings but I came down because I wanted to speak to the witnesses. As someone who worked a lot in business, I know the importance of investing correctly and doing so on a timely basis. I read the opening remarks and the information that the witnesses sent. A lot of it chimes with what I think myself. We know that there is a crisis in delivery of infrastructure. This is something in our culture that has been going on over a long period. This is not a new problem but it does seem to be exacerbated. We have seen wins with the likes of the Luas delivery, so we know that some things can get done. We also got a good motorway network built, but at the same time, things have slowed down. We need to get back to that and we need to be able to have projects costed and delivered on a timely basis.

I am from north Kildare, where I was a county councillor for many years. I have seen at first hand the difficulties of getting a second bridge in Celbridge and the DART+ out to Kilcock. LIHAF gave €10 million for a relief road in Maynooth in 2011 and it still has not been done. Clane needs a second bridge. One might say that they are only one part of our infrastructure but the water pipes in Celbridge are at the point where we have to decrease the water pressure at the weekends, where people's taps do not work, just so the pipes do not burst. Outside the Intel plant, a pipe has burst three times in the past year. These are all basic things that we are struggling to get done. Some of them are under capital programmes for the next three or four years and some are not. The witnesses wrote the letter and went through what they wanted to discuss and, obviously, that is why this infrastructure committee is here. My key question to the witnesses is on what they see as the biggest difficulties, summarised in one or two points, and the biggest weaknesses in how the system is operating. Is it planning or is it the cost of the house?