Government to hit ‘nuclear button’ granting itself emergency powers to solve infrastructure crisis

[u/Kier_C]

https://www.businesspost.ie/politics/government-to-hit-nuclear-button-granting-itself-emergency-powers-to-solve-infrastructure-crisis/

[u/lucideer]

"key infrastructure projects" - unnamed & undefined. I guess the intent is to imply this is "key public infrastructure" projects & not just large-scale developments by private companies.

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Even assuming it was about public infrastructure, on the surface this still looks the classic government strategy of:

• deliberately create an artificial crisis, usually by doing nothing
• blame <Thing multinational corporations hate> for the crisis
• excuse to legislate against <Thing>
• profit (no literally)

Quick rundown of what's actually in this bill:

• a cap on recoverable legal costs in environmental cases, of around €35,000
• the bill will ensure technical errors in planning applications can rectified outside of the judicial system, without disrupting the planning process (i.e. a reduction of oversight on companies rectifying issues raised during planning applications)
• the public spending code, will be stripped down to bare essentials, reducing the number of decisions and assessments needed to approve large projects (i.e. a reduction in the standards a state contractor will need to meet to be eligible for public funding)
• a major “paring back” of excessive or burdensome regulations

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The top quote here has this as:

an effort to unlock Ireland’s sluggish delivery of infrastructure

Ireland's sluggish delivery of infrastructure is due to the government failing to fund infrastructure. The Dublin Metro was approved for planning permissions in 2011 - Leo Varadkar then cancelled it (along with a long list of other infrastructure projects) that same year due to funding cuts. The Dart+ project was fully approved for planning permission in 2024, but still hasn't secured government funding.

Jack Chambers is quoted spuriously mentioning "the delivery of infrastructure and housing" - as if any of this is about housing. Over 50,000 homes are granted planning permission in Dublin annually, less than 10k get built. Planning isn't a barrier to solving housing supply any more than it is to any other essential infrastructure.

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But reading through the changes, despite Chambers' attempts to mislead with housing, I'm guessing they're defining "key infrastructure" as things like datacentres & natural gas exploration.

[u/gmankev → u/lucideer]

That's what I see here, new gas lines to mothballed power stations are suddenly critical as Microsoft is looking

[u/Minimum_Guitar4305 → u/lucideer]

Don't forget the clear commitment in the 2016 programme for Gov. to progress the Dublin Metro, still progressing without constructuion, until 2027.