Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 9 July 2025
Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery
Business of Joint Committee
2:00 am
Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
As we have a quorum of four Members, including one Deputy and one Senator, I call the meeting to order and advise Members we are in public session.
At the outset, I advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings. This does not apply to meetings held in private.
Members are also reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that may be regarded as damaging to the good name of that person or entity. Therefore, if Members' statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that Members comply with any such direction.
The first item on the agenda is the minutes. Are the minutes of the last meeting, which have been circulated, agreed to? Agreed. There are three items of correspondence. The first is an invitation for members of the committee to visit the Seven Mills housing development in Clonburris, Dublin 22 which came in, as the committee will see, from those involved with the housing development. Are Members interested? It will not happen this side of the summer but we will keep the correspondence on hand. Somewhere along the line it might be in our interest to visit a housing development in an area that is reasonably accessible. We may or may not choose to do so in the autumn. We acknowledge the correspondence and hold it on file for future consideration. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The next item of correspondence is from a private citizen suggesting that the committee meet with the Gluas group to discuss the proposal for light rail in Galway city. The NTA recently published a study relating to the proposal and reported on the potential economic and social benefits of the project. There is a request for another meeting. I propose that we note the correspondence and thank them for it. We will keep the matter under consideration.
The next item is from An Coimisiún Pleanála relating to a presentation to the housing spokespersons as part of its stakeholder engagement. This correspondence was requested by our members at the last meeting with An Coimisiún Pleanála. It is a presentation from An Coimisiún Pleanála which was given to the housing spokespersons of all the parties as part of its increased stakeholder engagement. We asked for a copy of that and it has been received. We note it and will publish it. It is a very good document if people want to go through it.
The next item is the committee report. We have been working on preparing a report for the committee. I remind Members that a draft report will be circulated tomorrow morning for their comments and input. Members are asked to send any amendments to the secretariat by email by next Monday at 3 p.m. The report reflects on our meetings with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Uisce Éireann, the Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transport Authority and IBEC. In order to agree a final report, we are required to meet outside of our usual slot. We cannot publish a report without us agreeing to it. I propose that we meet in private session next Tuesday at 11 a.m. It is the only time available in committee room 1. Members will be able to join remotely if they wish. The link will issue as usual. Because it is a private meeting, people do not have to physically be here but we want to ensure we have a quorum to sign off on the report. If Members have amendments, they might send them in before Monday afternoon so we can incorporate them or if there is an issue with them, we can discuss them with the report.
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