Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are all on the same page. We want these capital projects to happen. The Minister mentioned external expertise to try to deliver this. I am aware that he will hire additional external expertise for the Project Ireland 2040 delivery board. Those will be additional members if I am not mistaken. I am aware that he is establishing a framework of external specialists and infrastructure delivery to assist with a major project advisory group. The Minister says that this is to avoid the pitfalls which have arisen in the past and delayed project delivery. We know that there have been significant delays in the past on capital projects and we simply cannot afford this. The Minister has been reported in the media as casting doubt that we will reach our capital targets this year. That would have a knock-on effect on subsequent years. Is the Minister confident that we will be able to deliver these? We need large-scale capital investment to get us out of this economically and to rebuild the infrastructure in respect of which we have lagged behind for so long.

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