Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2025
63. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the actions planned under Pillar 1 of the new Accelerating Infrastructure Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [70477/25]
View answerLast week Government published the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan. This sets out 30 high-impact reforms targeted at the most significant barriers to the delivery of critical infrastructure. The actions contained in the report are grouped into four pillars.
Pillar 1 focuses on Legal Reform. While Ireland’s legal system is widely considered to be effective and fair, current regulatory and legal processes are acting as significant barriers to the timely delivery of infrastructure. In particular, the number of judicial reviews continues to rise, increasing by 43% in 2024 compared to 2023. Judicial review is a vital tool for transparency and accountability, but growing administrative complexity means these challenges increasingly delay critical infrastructure projects, imposing real costs on taxpayers and society.
Reforms to the legal system will support better balance towards the common good by addressing the incentives that drive a disproportionate reliance on the courts. These reforms will reduce incentives for excessive litigation, clarify rules on standing and remedies, and introduce fast-track pathways for nationally significant projects that are in the common good through the development of new legislation.
These changes will ensure that the legal system continues to safeguard rights but does so without becoming a bottleneck for progress, enabling critical infrastructure to proceed with greater certainty and pace. Legislation will be progressed to reduce the extent that nationally significant projects can be subject to undue procedural delay
The specific actions under Pillar 1 are:
• Reforming Judicial Review
• Enacting Legislation to Accelerate Critical Infrastructure and Provide for Emergency Powers
• Implementing Other Targeted Legislative Reforms
• Progressing Domestic Reforms to Environmental Assessment in parallel with EU Simplification Agenda
• Increasing Exemption Thresholds for Critical Infrastructure
• Responding Rapidly to Precedent
• Enacting a Civil Reform Bill to Legislate for Judicial Reviews
Full detail on each of these actions, the timelines for implementation, and the responsible body is available in the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan.
