More than a year after the suggestion of such an initiative in a Chamber report, the Minister for Transport announced that he is examining proposals to introduce a critical infrastructure Bill. The bill would address the issues that dramatically increase the timeframe and cost of constructing major pieces of infrastructure in Ireland.

The Chamber's Unlocking the Gridlock report from February 2002 proposed the introduction of Nationally Important Infrastructural Project (NIIP) status for major pieces of infrastructure that would exempt them from normal planning proceedures, with a view to reducing the planning delays that habitually increase the implementation time for these projects.

The Minister has indicated that the bill will deal with land ownership, both above and below the ground, compulsory purchase orders and the length of planning appeals and how some finality might be brought to appeals.

In a seperate development, the Oireachtas All-Party Committee on the Constitution are set to investigate the possibility of making changes to the
Constitution to address the issue of the cost of development land.

"Now that the Minister has signalled is intention to act on the issues of planning delays and infrastructure costs, the Chamber will be keeping the pressure on to ensure that the promised bill is speedily developed," commented Declan Martin, the Chamber's Director of Policy.