Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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79. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide some details on the work his accelerating infrastructure task force will be undertaking; what we can expect by way of the reports it will produce; and the assurances in place that the recommendations it makes will be acted upon. [27880/25]

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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After those remarks, I must state that it is important the record has been corrected. I would hope that all Members carry our history with them when they make contributions and understand that there are families who can be impacted. It is important for us all to realise the importance of our words.

My question relates to the accelerating infrastructure task force. What can we expect by way of the reports it will produce and how can we be assured that the recommendations it makes will be acted upon?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I launched the new accelerating infrastructure task force on Friday 16 May. At the task force's first meeting, the terms of reference were agreed and there was a discussion of the work plan of the Department's newly established infrastructure division over the coming months.

Primarily, the role of the task force is to provide its members' expertise and guidance to assist my Department's work programme of identifying and addressing barriers to the delivery of infrastructure in order to accelerate the development of critical infrastructure.  This work programme focuses on the energy, transport and water sectors. This focus has been adopted because all three of these elements are required to underpin the development of all economic and social infrastructure, whether in healthcare, housing or childcare, and to support our economy's competitiveness.

As noted, the terms of reference for the task force have been established and agreed with the members. These specifically set out that the role of the task force is to: provide strategic guidance and expert input to policy proposals to speed up infrastructure delivery; provide guidance and advice to officials to ensure that barriers to infrastructure delivery are identified accurately and represent the most significant barriers that are impeding timely and effective delivery; provide guidance and advice on the development of a small number of high-impact reform actions that are robust, achievable and timebound that will be rigorously focused on addressing the challenges identified - these actions will be brought to Government for approval; and oversee the subsequent implementation of these reform actions, supported by the Department’s infrastructure division and the Departments and agencies responsible for implementation.

There are 12 members of the task force. Six are independent experts experienced in infrastructure delivery and the other six are ex-officiomembers taken from commercial semi-State entities at the front line of infrastructure development and the local government sector. I will chair meetings of the task force. I anticipate that it will meet monthly.

The first task my Department is progressing, and, hence, the first task the task force will oversee, is a systematic assessment of the barriers impeding the development of critical infrastructure. This task will be undertaken through a combination of research work, direct stakeholder engagement and a process of public engagement which will be launched shortly. I expect to bring a report on these barriers to Government in July, incorporating feedback from the task force. Thereafter, the focus will be on identifying actions that can overcome these barriers, seeking Government approval of these actions and ensuring they are implemented.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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The reason I asked this question is because in recent years various different task forces and expert groups have been set up. We have the construction sector group, for example. I was quite puzzled as to why this new group had to be set up as opposed to its members just being added to the construction sector group. As we know, that expert group was set up to help tackle the housing crisis. I read some of its reports - they were excellent - but I never really saw how its recommendations were translated into Government policy. I am a bit worried that the new task force will go the same way. In other words, that there will be some good reports, committee appearances and fanfare but little follow-through. Will the Minister provide specifics as to how any recommendations will carry over into Government policy or legislation? As he knows, there are no serviced sites in south Conamara. This is an incredibly important issue we need to tackle. I want to see actual progress resulting from these reports.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The construction sector group has a distinct and separate mandate. It continues to do excellent work. We have identified, and the Deputy will have seen this in her broad engagement with people in south Conamara or, indeed, with stakeholders across the economy, that there are many barriers impeding delivery. The task force’s central mandate is to have a short period to identify these barriers, develop significant reforms to cut through some of the processes involved and the barriers to delivery and ensure that we oversee the implementation. That is responding to the genuine concerns around the level and pace of delivery. That has not been the central focus of the construction sector group, which, as stated, has a distinct and separate mandate. The new task force is seeking to accelerate delivery of the basic infrastructure that is lacking in parts of our country. It is looking at impediments, at why projects are taking too long in terms of the design and concept phases and at how project lifecycles can be shortened in order to drive delivery. That will improve the basic infrastructure in the Deputy’s constituency and many other parts of the country.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I hope this works, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. I am worried that the task force will become a place where things are said and reports are written, but that nothing will come from this. Of course, it is important to listen to expert recommendations and bring them together. Some incredibly good reports have been published. In that context, we could fill the House with excellent reports. However, these reports are never actioned. That is the issue. I want to ensure that the task force does not become some kind of a holding excuse and that it will actually bring forward recommendations that will mean we can tackle the relevant issues.

The Minister said he is going to bring some of the recommendations forward in the summer. In six months' time, we will have a good idea of what is happening in terms of a progress update. While the Minister has made this task force a signature initiative, we need to make sure something is done in respect of the recommendations it puts forward. Other groups have made recommendations and either nothing came of them or the Government did not listen. We need to ensure that, as in the case of Conamara, there will be serviced sites and whatever else is needed,

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not disagree with much of what the Deputy said. There are often too many reports which contain endless recommendations. We have tried to change our approach to how this process is working. It is how we can identify high-impact reforms that are implementable and timebound that will make an objective difference. That has been the central mandate of the task force. That is why there will be a report by the summer. The outworking of it, and the core remit of the task force, is to oversee, with me chairing it, the implementation of this across government. That is the mandate it has been given.

Having hundreds of recommendations in hundreds of pages of a particular report means that the specific actions are lost. That is why we are taking a focused approach to how we develop the work programme of both the infrastructure task force and the infrastructure division. The task force is also tasked with examining international best practice in the context of how we can measure Ireland against that. We know we have a significant infrastructure deficit. Some of that is in our delivery systems and in the processes that have developed over many years. All of that will fit within the recommendations that will come by the summer. It is about trying to move the dial on infrastructure delivery.