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Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Increase in High Court challenges a key barrier to timely completion of infrastructure
A 20 per cent increase in judicial review challenges this year has been identified as a key barrier to timely completion of big capital projects and housing . This assessment is made in a new report examining the sluggish delivery of critical infrastructure in the State. The document points to a culture of risk aversion and excessive caution within the public service at the expense of timely decisions on projects. Increased regulatory burdens (including examples of applications requiring 30,000 pages of information), slow appraisal processes and inconsistent planning decisions are also cited as drags on delivery. READ MORE Delivering the report on Tuesday, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers said people are 'immensely frustrated' at the pace of delivery and how this drives up costs. The report, which identified 12 key barriers to development, said that despite record investment in capital projects, the time it takes to complete these projects has lengthened considerably. Mr Chambers said it is clear from the report that delays are imposing limitations on the State's growth and development. 'Our electricity and water systems are approaching crisis points in many parts of our country that, if not addressed, will limit our ability to build the homes that we need and indeed provide for any of the other infrastructure, social or economic, that we need . . . We simply must do better by removing the barriers.' A higher number of High Court judicial review cases is pinpointed, with evidence to show challenges to planning decisions have risen by a fifth this year compared to 2024. The Minister said: 'I am deeply concerned that judicial review is too often being used as a mechanism and a tactic to obstruct and delay. This distorts the intended purpose of judicial review from a remedy of last resort to a tactical tool to delay infrastructure development.' Saying Irish court processes were among the slowest in Europe, he argued the net effect is inordinately long delays and a significant spike in project costs. He said it was having a 'serious chilling effect' on the commencement of projects. Mr Chambers outlined the example of a judicial review challenge to the Greater Dublin Drainage Project in 2020, which necessitated the need for a revised planning application in July 2025. The project, aimed at dealing with waste water on the north side of the capital, will now not be completed until 2032, while the project development costs have doubled in the interim. The delay of almost a decade might also impede the development of housing in that area of Dublin . [ Local authorities told to zone more land for housing, as national target more than doubles Opens in new window ] Mr Chambers said: 'It's easy to say that public bodies should simply ensure that all documentation is correct. But when Irish Water has to develop a planning application for projects that come to more than 30,000 pages, it's clear to me that process has grown far too excessive and is getting in the way of the common good.' Mr Chambers said risk aversion in the public service is also a theme of the report. The risk of judicial challenge has resulted in regulatory bodies carrying out more in-depth assessments of applications to mitigate risk. 'While this increased scrutiny may have some benefits, it appears to be coming at the expense of timely decisions,' he added. Over decades, he said, there has been a pattern of decentralising significant policy decisions to different agencies and regulatory bodies. This has slowed policies and decisions, he said. His department received 170 submissions from the public and other stakeholders. A final report and an action plan addressing the identified barriers will be published in the autumn.
Extra.ie
21-07-2025
- Business
- Extra.ie
Trump's tariffs may derail €30bn Metro splurge
Spending of €30billion on infrastructure, including the Dublin Metrolink, over the next six years will be announced tomorrow – but sources say the plan depends on Donald Trump's tariffs. Details of the National Development Plan (NDP) are expected to reveal a plan of works that will see a major upgrade of roads, the water network and the power grid. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, said yesterday that the cash will focus on areas in need of urgent development. The extra funding is possible following the sale of AIB shares and the €14billlion Apple tax windfall. Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos He said: 'It's across three specific areas, namely water and wastewater infrastructure, the Metro project and also the necessity to provide investment in our grid.' Mr Chambers said the upgraded NDP 'gives an opportunity for transformation and investment' in the economy over the next five to ten years. Asked where the extra €10bn is coming from, the minister said it is 'part of our medium-term economic planning', adding that the Government is prioritising capital investment over the medium to long term. He said an 'additional uplift' is needed to address areas that 'can't wait any further'. Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Chambers said the timeline of the Dublin MetroLink is dependent on the planning system. MetroLink Dublin. Pic: MetroLink Already, €35million of taxpayers' money has been spent on metro consultancy fees. The revised NDP comes as Uisce Éireann said it needs an additional €2billion, on top of €10.3billion already allocated for capital spending, and ESB Networks says it needs an extra €1billion as part of its €13.4billion spending plan. It is understood that there will also be extra funding for Eirgrid. The NDP is expected to be agreed today by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, junior transport minister Seán Canney, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, and Mr Chambers. It will contain spending plans for housing, water, energy and transport. The spike in spending is a final attempt to solve the housing crisis. Spending allocations for departments such as Housing, Health, Transport, and Education will be decided by the leaders. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris. Pic: Maxwell's Mr Martin and Mr Harris met on Saturday at 5 pm to make final decisions, and negotiations are ongoing. But concern is high that the Trump tariff proposals may scupper the plans. One source said: 'All eyes will still be on Trump when the new plan is launched. These plans are all conditional on Trump coming to a deal on tariffs.' A minister warned: 'He [Trump] really casts a long shadow. He negotiates in headlines. You might think you've a plan nailed down, but if he has a bad Epstein morning, in the afternoon, he could come out with a 30% tariff. US President Donald Trump. Pic:) 'We thought we had pharma locked away and then he puts it back on the table. He has a different plan for breakfast, dinner and tea.' Another said: 'Everything in the locker is being thrown at this. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.' The Government will use the Summer Economic Statement and the NDP to send a message about current and windfall one-off expenditure. One senior figure warned: 'The message we need to send out now is when it comes to the budget, it will be 'Brace yourself, Bridget' time,' while another minister warned: 'It is back to McCreevy economics: when we don't have it, we don't spend. The age of €1million social houses is over. It was the apogee, the end of the cycle.' A source added: 'Paschal and Jack are in total control. We don't want to repeat past Celtic Tiger errors when we cut back on infrastructure spending at the wrong time. The line is being laid down this week. We do not want a summer of leaks, particularly when there is nothing good to leak.' Additional reporting by John Drennan
The Journal
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Journal
AI can be used to create drafts of government reports, say new guidelines
IT IS ACCEPTABLE for draft versions of reports produced by the public service to be created by artificial intelligence, say new guidelines released today. The Department of Public Expenditure and Public Service Reform has published new guidelines setting out what it considers to be 'responsible use of AI in the public service'. The public service includes civil servants working in government departments and State agencies as well as wider public sector workers in areas like education, healthcare and the justice system. The guidelines outline the type of tasks that AI can be used to support work in the public service. These include using AI to provide chatbots on government websites, language translation, algorithms for decision-making, policy analysis, and content generation, such as text, images, audio or video. Advertisement The guidelines list examples of the type of content that AI can be used to generate in the public service, including analysing lengthy documents and generating summaries or draft versions of reports containing the most important data points and insights. Other acceptable examples it provides are the automatic generation of language translations of government publications and the creation videos or infographics for public awareness campaigns. AI can also be used in the public service for identifying and categorising data, detecting and monitoring patterns, and forecasting future trends, the guidelines detail. Pros and cons The guidelines say that AI has 'the potential to transform Irish Public Services, making them more efficient, fair, and responsive'. Currently, St. Vincent's University Hospital is exploring the potential for AI to assist with performing heart ultrasound scans, which could help to reduce waiting times for patients. The Department of Agriculture is developing an AI-supported solution to detect errors in grant applications that could reduce processing times for applications. 'AI offers immense possibilities to improve the provision of public services,' said Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers. Related Reads Meta says it will use public content from European users to train its AI model Investigation into AI tool 'Grok' on social media site X launched by Irish privacy watchdog Minister of State for AI Niamh Smyth added that AI can be used for 'unlocking productivity, addressing social challenges and delivering enhanced services'. However, the guidelines also identify several potential risks associated with using AI in public services. One of the risks is AI systems could reinforce biases in data, leading to unintended discrimination. There's also a risk that complex algorithms can make AI-driven decisions difficult to understand, which in turn could affect public trust. And automated AI systems can lack flexibility, risking a loss of the 'human touch' in public services. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Why citizen and community participation is critical to infrastructure delivery
Analysis: Public engagement processes can enable positive outcomes in relation to delivering infrastructure projects Ireland's energy transition requires urgent and far-reaching infrastructural changes in the years ahead. In light of this (and other infrastructure requirements more broadly), the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers is establishing a new dedicated Infrastructure Division, and an associated taskforce involving Uisce Éireann, EirGrid and the ESB. The taskforce aims to "speed up" infrastructure delivery. While constraints within the planning system can often negatively impact on the timely development of infrastructure projects, there is a real danger that efforts towards acceleration will sideline citizen participation in decision making and input into the planning process. The need for robust and effective citizen, community and public engagement processes, giving society a voice in shaping the unprecedented infrastructure developments ahead, is warranted both from a democratic perspective, and also considering our past experiences of how not to do things, such as the failed attempts to roll out water metering, and the tensions surrounding the development of Corrib Gas Terminal and Grid25. Recent collaborative research between the MaREI Centre at UCC and EirGrid (Ireland's electricity transmission system operator) has revealed a number of recent examples of how public engagement processes can enable positive outcomes in relation to delivering infrastructure projects, such as the recently approved 400 kV (kilo volt) electricity grid upgrade in Meath-Kildare. The results of this research indicate that early engagement with citizens and communities is feasible and effective in delivering timely infrastructure projects related to grid development. This challenges some of the current narratives surrounding how best to accelerate the building of infrastructure, which reduces it to a contested relationship between infrastructure projects, the planning system, and local communities, failing to acknowledge the wider societal conversation needed on Ireland's future. This research has also investigated the role of community benefit funding (a local fund generated by developers and transferred to communities affected by infrastructure initiatives) in enabling public participation in the energy infrastructure projects and in the energy transition. It is important to note the important role of the community forums that are developed to support public participation, representing the opinions of the community, offering advice on regional requirements, identifying chances for cooperation, resolving conflicts, giving project input, and developing the community benefit fund strategy. Here, the research focused on three different funds associated with electricity grid infrastructure projects across three distinct geographic regions, namely in Clashavoon-Dunmanway (Co. Cork), Laois-Kilkenny, and the Celtic Interconnector, a 500km underwater electricity cable between Cork and Brittany. The research included surveys, focus groups, and fund-route analysis for each of the projects under investigation to garner community feedback on the approaches taken. The community response to the approach taken across all three cases was positive, with groups hoping to pursue similar opportunities moving forward. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, Is Ireland's infrastructure lagging behind? Regarding the Celtic Interconnector, this 700 megawatt cable will move electricity bidirectionally across the Celtic Sea, providing a key contribution to Ireland's security of electricity supply through a direct link to continental Europe. One additional aspect of our research on the Celtic Interconnector was investigating how pre-existing 'Celtic interconnections' are providing foundations for the Celtic Interconnector, drawing out the broader relationships which frame this new technological collaboration. For example, the cultural interconnections through language and music, and the historical interconnections through migration and trade. Another key focus of this research has been assessing EirGrid's institutional journey to embed public engagement in their strategic approach to infrastructure delivery. The journey was reflected on by one as: 'EirGrid has totally changed its approach from one of dictatorial engineer led design to one of meaningful consultation and listening to communities.' To date the new approach has supported the delivery of projects, indicating that improved citizen and community participation is critical to infrastructure delivery. However, the scale of change required means there is a danger that external pressures will seek to condense, minimise, or streamline engagement. There is an inherent tension between speeding up the low-carbon transition and engaging citizens in transition processes, which is an important consideration at the inception of the Infrastructure Division, with acceleration being front and centre of its announcement. At a national level, through the National Dialogue on Climate Action (NDCA), the Government has recognised the key role which a whole of society approach to climate action must play. In prioritising citizen engagement, over the period 2021-2024, the NDCA engaged 15,000 members of the public and over 1,000 stakeholders in dialogue surrounding climate action and policy. The process successfully identified groups and communities taking action, whilst also highlighting where people lack information, knowledge, resources and capacity to do so. The recent Climate Action Plan 2025 seeks to enable a 'strengthened social contract between the Government and the Irish people' and a 'vision of climate action for Ireland through the shared values of fairness, collaboration and positive change.' Citizen engagement at both a governmental level and within organisations is increasingly recognised as a core process necessary for the transition to a low-carbon society. The new dedicated Infrastructure Division can offer a space to support deeper public engagement in relation to Ireland's energy transition, working in collaboration with the Citizen Engagement division at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and the organisations charged with delivering infrastructure. To do this, however, the calls for acceleration must be situated in relation to processes of involving citizens meaningfully in decision making on processes of change. There is a need to foster conversation and build a stronger shared sense of the nation's future and the role infrastructure plays therein. This is particularly important due to the changing global political and economic landscape that is pushing towards increasing rather than reducing the democratic deficit.
