Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government assigned a number of priority tasks to the newly established Infrastructure Division in the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform, and Digitalisation. These new tasks include:

• Work with stakeholders to advise on strategic project selection, prioritisation, and pipelines;
• Expedite the delivery of project assessments, appraisals, business cases and other approvals;
• Review the Infrastructure Guidelines and create a Public Investment Act to establish clear timelines;
• Assist agencies in complying with environmental and development standards;
• Ensure expertise in project management, procurement, planning, engineering available within the Division;
• Work with stakeholders to develop mechanisms to reduce delays in obtaining sanction for key employees; and
• Meet with agencies to review projects’ progress.

The Division, led by a Deputy Secretary, is staffed by a combination of experienced civil servants and sectoral experts, redeployed from key state agencies with first-hand experience of infrastructure delivery.

The Division is also supported in its functions on reforming infrastructure delivery by a newly convened Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, which brings together senior public sector leaders and private sector experts with extensive experience in infrastructure delivery.

Since the creation of the division, the Department has been working to fulfil this new mandate. Much of this work has been advanced through the NDP Review that was published in July. This review prioritised record capital investment levels in water, energy, transport and housing to meet the infrastructure needs of Ireland's population. This included the provision of additional equity to key State utilities to support their investment programmes.

In addition, the Division has been focusing on reforming the delivery of critical infrastructure. To this end, the Department undertook an extensive stakeholder engagement and public consultation over the summer. This cumulated in July with a report on the most important barriers to infrastructure delivery. This report on barriers in underpinning the development of a report and action plan on accelerating infrastructure delivery. This will be brought to Government in the coming weeks. It will set out a series of high-impact reforms targeted at the most significant barriers to the timely delivery of critical infrastructure.

Beyond its role in accelerating infrastructure delivery and the development of the NDP, the Division also supports the Department’s broader mandate. This includes managing expenditure votes for key sectors, leading on construction procurement policy, and advancing performance budgeting and climate action objectives. Through these functions, the Division helps ensure value for money, strengthen accountability, and support policies that underpin Ireland’s long-term economic resilience and social progress.