Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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297. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the new infrastructure unit in his Department has been tasked with preparing an infrastructure priorities list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35753/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In line with the commitments made in the Programme for Government, earlier this year I announced a series of actions to accelerate the provision of strategic infrastructure in Ireland, including the creation of a new Infrastructure Division in my Department.

This Division is focusing on how infrastructure development can be accelerated, particularly in the electricity, water and transport sectors. This is the strategic infrastructure required to underpin the development of all of the other economic and social infrastructure we need to function as a society. It is particularly vital to enable the development of the 300,000 homes we need to meet the Government's housing target.

Specifically, the Infrastructure Division has been initially tasked with the preparation of a systematic, evidence-based assessment of the barriers impeding timely infrastructure development. To support this work, experts have been temporarily deployed to my Department from a range of key State agencies including, ESB Networks, EirGrid, Uisce Éireann, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and An Coimisiún Pleanála.

The Infrastructure Division is also engaging with key stakeholders to gather the evidence necessary to identify the most critical barriers to development. The evidence from this direct engagement will be combined with views from a wide range of stakeholders through a public consultation that launched on June 6th. The consultation will close on July 4th and I encourage my colleagues to take part.

I expect to provide a draft report to Government in the coming weeks on the most significant barriers that are impeding infrastructure development. The results of this analysis will inform a subsequent Action Plan that Government will consider for implementation.