Sharon Keogan (Independent)

I am glad to have the Minister here this afternoon. I am glad we are holding these statements on our nation's economic outlook and our competitiveness in succession as it really allows us to continue on from the earlier conversation we had with the Minister for Finance. When it comes to the question of competitiveness, I am sure there will be as much said on the question of how we balance regulation with entrepreneurial freedom, our taxation system, rates, efficiency and so on. However, as many of our esteemed colleagues will no doubt speak on these, for me, there are three primary things we must focus on: infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure.

Last month, I asked whether we would be able to build Ardnacrusha dam and power station today. My conclusion was that it was doubtful. I was happy to see earlier this week that a columnist in The Irish Times asked the same question and came back with the same conclusion. While sad to hear, it is good that we are talking about this. However, talk is not enough. We need action, and we need courage. The IBEC report makes it crystal clear that we are being strangled by a planning system that gives more weight to the whims of serial objectors than to the common good. We are one of the few countries in Europe where a single individual can hold up a nationally significant project for years. This is not democracy; it is dysfunction.

We need to rebalance the system. I support IBEC's call for the implementation of the Kelly report's recommendation. We must create alternative mechanisms to judicial reviews and empower decision-makers to correct errors without being dragged through the courts. If that means constitutional reform, so be it. The public good must come first.

Let us take the Dublin metro as a case in point. This project has been in the pipeline for more than two decades. It has been studied, restudied, planned, replanned and objected to at every turn, and where are we now? We are still waiting, still paying consultants and still stuck in traffic.Speaking of traffic, why does our national airport not have a rail link? We are the only capital city in Europe without one. To get to Dublin city, you either pay a tenner for an express bus or wait an hour for a Dublin Bus that may or may not show up. That is not acceptable for a modern nation. That is embarrassing, but it gets worse: we are now being told that Dublin may soon not have enough water to meet civilian demand, never mind the needs of data centres. Whether we like data centres or not, they are a strategic asset. They are our ace in the hole in a digital economy, but if we cannot fix the leaks in our water network or find the political will to move water from the Shannon, we will lose them, and with them we will lose jobs, investment and credibility. That would be a failure worthy of a banana republic, not the modern, forward-looking Ireland we claim to be.

We must also have a serious conversation about nuclear energy. I have raised this before and I will raise it again. We cannot continue to ban nuclear power while simultaneously claiming to be serious about energy security and climate targets. Other countries are investing in small, modular reactors. Why are we not even talking about it? While we are at it, let us talk about offshore gas. We have untapped resources off our coast. Why are we not exploring them? Why are we not using them to build a sovereign wealth fund like Norway did, to invest in our future infrastructure? We are an island nation. With Brexit we have a golden opportunity to become the entrepôtfor the EU. That means we need new ports, not just more pressure on Dublin. We should look at deepwater alternatives around the country such as Shannon Foynes, Cork, Waterford and even Rosslare. Let us spread the opportunity and the investment.

The IBEC report is a wake-up call. It tells us that we need to spend €200 billion in the next decade just to keep pace. That is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It is not just about money; it is about delivery. It is about cutting red tape, streamlining procurement and giving statutory powers to a single body to co-ordinate and prioritise major projects. We must stop treating infrastructure as a political football and start treating it as the foundation of our future, because without it we will be neither competitive nor prosperous. I welcome the national semiconductor strategy. It is something I believe the Minister will drive forward and that it will open the gates for many other global companies to come to Ireland to strengthen our tech industry.

I also wish to highlight the reversal of the Government's decision to impose a new stand-alone labelling requirement on bottles of alcohol imported into Ireland. Everyone in this House supports the responsible consumption of alcohol and wants to reduce alcohol harms, but this label will do nothing to achieve that goal. It is a misguided solo run that puts Irish jobs, producers and our international reputation at risk, all for no proven health gain. Could the Minister look at that sector? That is something we could row back on or delay for a while. I wish him good luck. He was a very progressive Minister of State in the area of local government. I have no doubt he will grab this portfolio by the horns.