Harnessing Private Investment to Accelerate Infrastructure Delivery

How Ireland can accelerate infrastructure delivery by designing projects to attract private capital alongside strong public investment.

In brief

• Ireland’s €275bn infrastructure programme faces rising demand across housing, energy, climate and networks, creating a strong case for complementary private capital.
• The article outlines proven mechanisms including revenue supports, regulated models, guarantees, asset recycling, PPPs and concessions, with Irish and international examples.
• Designing funding approaches early can mobilise investment, strengthen delivery certainty and accelerate infrastructure outcomes while protecting the public interest.

A defining moment for infrastructure delivery

The National Development Plan (NDP) sets out €275 billion of public capital investment to 2035. This is in addition to the substantial planned investment by the State’s commercial semi‑state utilities, representing the largest capital programme in the State’s history. Even at this scale, the requirement is growing: housing demand, the energy transition, climate adaptation, digital and water infrastructure, and a more uncertain geopolitical and trade environment are each pushing investment needs higher.

This investment is underpinned by reforms to strengthen capital spending through the economic cycle. The Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund will be capitalised with €2 billion per year to support capital expenditure during downturns. Alongside this funding commitment, Government has set out a system‑wide programme of delivery reform through the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, aimed at removing legal, regulatory and coordination barriers that have historically slowed infrastructure delivery.

While the public funding commitment is welcome, it comes with constraints and risks. In this context, we must not rest on our laurels and continue to ask ourselves, how can we do more? 

Part of the answer is enhancing investment levels through leveraging private capital. Globally, institutional investors currently hold an estimated US$333.9 billion of uninvested (“dry powder”) allocated to infrastructure¹, actively seeking long‑duration, inflation‑linked assets of the type Ireland is now aiming to deliver.  Private capital should not be viewed as a substitute for public investment, it should be understood as a complementary source of funding to help Ireland deliver more infrastructure, faster and more efficiently.

The role of private capital at the core of delivery

Early and informed decisions on the funding approach for infrastructure programmes have a material influence on how assets are delivered. When well-structured, these decisions can unlock benefits that extend far beyond access to additional capital, supporting stronger delivery outcomes and long‑term value for money for the State:

• Expertise and innovation: private investors and operators bring delivery experience from comparable projects internationally, supporting better design and lifecycle asset management.
• Performance outcomes: long‑term contractual obligations sharpen focus on availability, quality and whole‑life outcomes.
• Risk allocation: construction, cost and performance risks can be transferred to parties best placed to manage them, improving certainty for the State.
• Market development: a credible long‑term pipeline encourages investment in skills, supply chains and productivity across the construction and infrastructure ecosystem.

Mechanisms to harness private capital

The choice of delivery model should be driven by asset characteristics, risk profile and policy objectives, rather than institutional precedent. In practice, a small number of tested mechanisms recur internationally and can be utilised further in Ireland.

Deploying private capital mechanisms

There are a number of good examples where these mechanisms can be deployed to mobilise private investment and maximise the impact of infrastructure programmes, both within Ireland and internationally.

i) Commercial Stimulus

Ireland already deploys this approach through mechanisms such as the Climate Action Fund, Urban Regeneration and Development Fund and through targeted investments within the housing sector².  At EU level, instruments such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)³ provide grants for transport, energy, communications and alternative fuels projects, however the CEF programme is competitively bid right across Europe.  A CEF type programme for Ireland could unlock major private capital and accelerate infrastructure delivery. An example of this is digital subsea cables where capacity and diversity of routes may not be justified by commercial demand but is critical to State security and resilience.

ii) Market revenue supports

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS)has successfully crowded in significant volumes of private capital and underpinned rapid deployment of renewable generation.  Similar risk‑sharing logic has been applied in other strategic contexts, notably the cap‑and‑floor regime for the Greenlink interconnector.

Taken together, these examples show that Ireland has used market‑based revenue support effectively where it has been applied. The opportunity now is to extend this logic across the infrastructure system, applying RESS‑style frameworks to further asset classes — building on the offshore wind Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS) and applying similar models to energy storage.

iii) Regulated models

Ireland already makes extensive use of economic regulation to fund major network and utility infrastructure across electricity, gas and water, where long‑term, predictable revenues support sustained investment by state‑owned entities.

To date, however, this approach has largely relied on public and semi‑state balance sheets rather than using regulated revenues to mobilise private capital at asset level. Internationally, this approach has been used to crowd in private investment for nationally significant infrastructure such as Thames Tideway and Sizewell C in the UK. In Ireland, RAB‑type models could be applied selectively to system‑critical assets such as enabling grid infrastructure, strategic security‑of‑supply investments, or other large‑scale energy infrastructure.

iv) Guarantees and credit‑enhancement models

A similar approach has been used in other sectors by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI).  Applied selectively, these mechanisms can unlock senior debt at scale, crowd in private capital and accelerate delivery, while keeping ownership and operational responsibility with the project sponsor.  While contingent liabilities arising from guarantees can be difficult for Governments to govern at scale, they could be used selectively and targeted to unlock infrastructure such as Port Offshore Renewable Energy terminals.

v) Asset recycling

In Ireland, this approach is particularly relevant given the forthcoming expiry of a number of first‑generation PPP and concession contracts, which creates natural decision points to recycle capital rather than defaulting to full balance‑sheet retention. Applied selectively to mature transport assets, ports or other brownfield infrastructure with stable cashflows, asset recycling could create additional fiscal headroom and accelerate delivery of new infrastructure, without compromising long‑term public oversight.

vi) Public‑Private Partnership (PPP) and concession models

Public–Private Partnership (PPP), in particular availability‑based PPPs, and concession models are proven mechanisms for controlling how strategic assets are operated and governed, while using private capital and expertise to deliver.  Ireland has generally used PPPs well where it has used them - Ireland’s roads PPP programme is widely regarded as having delivered strong outcomes - beyond roads the Convention Centre, Criminal Courts and successive schools’ bundles (to name a few) have been considered a success. Each demonstrates that the State has the institutional capability to structure, procure and govern complex PPPs across very different sectors. However, PPP use has been episodic rather than systematic, with pauses between programmes. Maximising this opportunity requires a shift to a more proactive policy direction with the identification and bundling of suitable programmes, creating a clearer and more investable pipeline for the market.

Conclusion: designing for private capital from the outset

The financing mechanisms set out above show that private capital and alternative delivery models are no longer ‘optional add‑ons’ to Ireland’s infrastructure strategy.  Ultimately, the objective is not to privatise infrastructure delivery, but to achieve better outcomes. Pragmatic collaboration between public and private actors, aligned around clear objectives, strong governance and transparent risk allocation, offers a credible route to mobilising additional funding capacity and accelerating delivery while protecting the public interest.