Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and Dublin Mid West TD, Emer Higgins, has welcomed the establishment of a new taskforce aimed at speeding up the delivery of infrastructure.
Speaking at the announcement, Minister Higgins said:
“Fine Gael campaigned for the acceleration of the delivery of strategic infrastructure projects such as housing, water, energy projects.
“Now, the Government has decided to establish a new dedicated Infrastructure Division in the Department of Public Expenditure with a clear mandate to accelerate the delivery of strategic infrastructure. We’re asking Departments to put a major focus on competitiveness as part of the NDP review and this new Infrastructure Division in the Department of Public Expenditure will be key to delivering on this. These new structures will deliver a step change in terms of how we deliver major capital projects.
“A team of sectoral experts is being seconded from key agencies involved in infrastructure delivery to support the Division to deliver on its mandate.
“We will also establish a new Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce to speed up infrastructure delivery. This will include the CEOs of critical delivery agencies and a number of external experts.”
Tánaiste Simon Harris said:
“The delivery of infrastructure, including housing, water and energy, is a major focus of Fine Gael in Government that now needs to be fast tracked in light of the economic turbulence that may lay ahead.
“I have been clear for months that the delivery of infrastructure needs to be our single biggest focus. When you speak to businesses it is clear that it is one of the major challenges they are facing here when it comes to considering if they can expand in Ireland.
“Every company I meet, every discussion I have with small, medium and large companies there is one common theme: they need quicker delivery of infrastructure projects.
“We know there has been a temporary pause on the imposition of some tariffs announced by President Trump. But tariffs remain and while I believe the pause provides a chance for a negotiated outcome between EU and the US, the difficulties that tariffs pose have not gone away.
“The Government has been clear we must control what we can control and during the next 90 days we must map out how we intend to accelerate the delivery of housing, water supply, energy, childcare and education facilities.
“We now have a government department focused on infrastructure delivery, a Cabinet committee on infrastructure, an Oireachtas committee on infrastructure. Collectively, we must work together to deliver.”