Pre-legislative scrutiny for infrastructure
Deputy Tóibín says the children's hospital fiasco shows why critical infrastructure projects should face pre-legislative scrutiny. The Tánaiste rejects that idea as unnecessary for the straightforward enabling Bill and says Government needs the power to prioritise urgent housing and utilities projects.
Yesterday the health committee heard that the national children's hospital will not be open, possibly, until autumn 2027. The opening of the hospital has now been delayed 18 times. The hospital that the Tánaiste signed off on is record-breaking for all of the wrong reasons. When the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, was asked recently when the hospital will open, she said that the opening date was in the hands of BAM. This is a startling admission. The Minister admitted that she has no control over the delivery of the biggest infrastructure project in the country. Yesterday, at a meeting of the Oireachtas infrastructure committee, Government TDs voted against pre-legislative scrutiny of the new critical infrastructure Bill. On the day that the national children's hospital was postponed for the 18th time, the Government voted against pre-legislative scrutiny of the new critical infrastructure Bill. Does the Tánaiste not recognise the jaw-dropping irony here?
Comment on this
Given the billions of euro in waste and the wholesale incineration of taxpayers' money by the Government on the national children's hospital, does the Tánaiste not think that pre-legislative scrutiny would be a good idea for critical infrastructure in this country?
Comment on this
I do not. It might sound reasonable to people listening at home, based on how the Deputy has framed it, but the critical infrastructure Bill is very straightforward legislation that is urgently required to give the Minister and the Government of the day the ability to prioritise certain projects. It is enabling legislation and it is extraordinarily straightforward.
There is urgency around building homes and water and wastewater facilities. Energy is an issue we are talking about right now. If the Deputy wants to sit around and talk about it for months, that is fine, but we do not. We want to get on with it. To draw comparisons is just misleading. It sounds good in a clip, but there is no link whatsoever with a Bill that will enable the Minister to say that a flood relief project or a wastewater treatment plant in a particular town is urgent and to ask people to get on with assessing it. There is no link at all.
Comment on this
There is no link between critical infrastructure and the national children's hospital problem.