Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. What I would say about transport specifically is that there has been a big uplift in the transport allocation for the next five years. Some €22 billion of the over €100 billion being invested in the next five years will be in transport, specifically to build more roads and ensure our public transport objectives are delivered. There is going to be a serious transformation of transport investment over the next five years.

The Deputy is correct in saying that additional allocations in themselves will do very little to change how we deliver infrastructure across our economy. That is why over the coming weeks we will publish a series of actions, to be implemented in 2026, which will accelerate the delivery of infrastructure across our economy. It means rebalancing regulation in our economy and reassessing a lot of the rules, processes and structures that are not working and are delaying decision-making and adding cost, rather than value, to the cost of projects when they come to be delivered and procured. We will introduce reforms from a legislative perspective on critical infrastructure and on trying to advance that in a greater and quicker way.

We will also be examining the roles of our regulators and ensuring there is a duty to co-operate across many of our regulators, which at the moment are a part of the sequencing of delays that undermine the delivery of infrastructure across our economy. I will, in the coming weeks, be able to show the difference that will make to the delivery of infrastructure.

The Deputy referenced the Navan rail line. There was a reduction in capital expenditure when the economy contracted and that contributed to delays for many of the projects, which the Deputy referenced. That was a part of the previous national development plan. Part of what we are trying to do now is to match sectoral investment plans in transport and other areas with new short timelines so we can better deliver transport infrastructure. The Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, is working with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, on a sectoral investment plan for transport in our economy. That will seek to match this very serious allocation. Nearly €1 of every €4 we will spend on capital over the next five years will be spent on transport, which is one of the biggest investments in public transport and our road network for many years.

Part of that is to try to match that with a credible pipeline of projects which we can deliver over a period of years while also trying to set out a new delivery mechanism into the early 2030s for projects that needs to go through planning and procurement. He will be able to set out further detail in terms of the transport sectoral investment plan. This new approach to infrastructural delivery is about rebalancing risk. The Deputy is often in here attacking public servants, politicians and others. People have a role in ensuring accountability where there is excessive spend on particular projects but it is also important we rebalance the risk appetite so that we address risk aversion in decision-making. That means we have to take extra-----

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