Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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17. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on the public engagement event he hosted on accelerating infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39950/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Feedback from stakeholders and the public is crucial to identifying the key barriers to infrastructure delivery and ultimately improving the delivery of infrastructure. To gather this feedback, I launched a Public Consultation on Accelerating Infrastructure on 6 June. This consultation process ran for four weeks to 4 July. The Consultation invited feedback from stakeholders, industry experts and the wider public on how the provision of infrastructure in Ireland might be accelerated.

As part of the Public Consultation, the online written process was complemented by a short series of general and targeted public events in June. These took place at the National Economic Dialogue (NED) and at a regional event I hosted in Athlone, Co. Westmeath on 18 June.

At the regional event a number of stakeholders were targeted, with 760 invitations circulated. The event was also open to the public to attend, with a post created on our social media channel.

The event was structured around the same high-level questions being used in the stakeholder interviews, and in the written consultation, to allow the many interested parties that will not be met individually to have the same opportunity to engage in the process.

At the event, the experts that are currently redeployed to the Infrastructure Division from EirGrid, TII and Uisce Éireann presented on core infrastructure projects in their sectors and the barriers they have faced, and are continuing to face, in delivering the critical infrastructure of water, electricity and transport for Ireland. I also addressed attendees and emphasised the importance of addressing the barriers being experienced in infrastructure delivery and the critical role attendees' feedback would play in developing a response from Government.

There was strong engagement on the day with informed feedback and views gathered from attendees. The data gathered through the public consultation and this event, have informed the assessment of barriers to infrastructure delivery that the Infrastructure Division is currently engaged in, complementing the targeted stakeholder engagement that is also underway.