The Government will publish a major plan this morning which aims to speed up the delivery of housing, roads, water and energy infrastructure.
The Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, which was chaired by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, contains 30 actions and deadlines by which they have to be completed.
The actions include new emergency powers legislation to fast-track capital projects in the national interest, remove regulatory barriers, reform judicial review rules including examining who can take a judicial review and tackling legal costs.
The report comes at a time when the Greater Dublin Drainage project, a major sewage scheme which is seen as critical to the delivery of housing, is being held up by a judicial review.
And the capital's Metro is also facing legal delays.
The report focuses on reform of legal system, regulatory reform, co-ordination and delivery.
Minister Chambers previously said there were "huge levels of frustration" across businesses and communities with infrastructure delivery paralysis.
He has also criticised the "weaponisation" of judicial reviews by certain individuals and groups to stop projects progressing.
He has said Ireland’s infrastructure deficit was harming Ireland’s economy and international competitiveness, but the actions contained in the report were the Government’s response for a reset in how capital projects will be delivered.
One of the actions in the report will be to create a duty for State bodies, departments and local authorities to cooperate on making land available and accessible for critical infrastructure projects in the areas of water, energy and transport.
Failure to cooperate in making the land available could impact on funding and result in sanctions.
Reforms of judicial review proceedings to limit how major infrastructure projects can be obstructed or delayed by objectors are also prioritised in the report.
Measures being examined include narrowing the legal "standing" for who can take an action, including prioritisation of parties directly affected by projects and introducing a new step requiring the assessment of the likelihood of success before granting leave.
The appropriateness of certain fee structures is also to be examined including "no foal, no fee" arrangements.
A survey carried out by Red C for Sage Advocacy showed that 90% of those surveyed believe the Government's housing plans should include supports to allow older people to continue living in their own homes.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Sage Advocacy chairman Mark Mellett said that nine out of ten people would like to get old in their own home, according to the survey results, adding that this should be supported by the State.
He said that in the Government’s building communities housing plan "there's only one page really dedicated to the care of older people and that's out of about over 108 pages or so and people over 60 in this country represent about 20% of the population
"And it is really not adequately addressed."
