With Funding and Policy Certainty Secured Delivery Will Be Key for NDP

The revised National Development Plan announced this week gives Ireland the funding and policy certainty needed to transform our housing, energy, water, transport, and health infrastructure over the next 10 years.

The government has committed a record €275 billion in funding for the coming decade, which has the potential to be transformative for the economy and society. Successful delivery of major infrastructure rests on three pillars: policy clarity, funding certainty and effective implementation. We now have the first two, it is time for a laser focus on the third pillar to maximise the return on taxpayers’ funds. 

With infrastructure, the simple rule is that “time costs money”: the longer we take to deliver on our infrastructure ambitions, the more it costs government, investors, developers, the people building the infrastructure and ultimately the public, from both a cost and societal impact perspective. While Ireland’s delivery challenges are well documented, they are not unique to these shores and there is much we can learn from how other countries have faced similar challenges.

Planning Challenges

From California to Canberra, planning issues have dogged big infrastructure for decades. Developers and investors often tell me that they can manage complexity, long planning processes and even refusals - but they need some level of increased predictability when it comes to timelines. The Greater Dublin Drainage Scheme, for example, spent almost eight years in planning which has only recently concluded.

Recent reforms to our Planning and Development Act are very welcome, but even as these are being implemented, there are numerous examples globally the Government can look to in order to further streamline planning. In Australia, the NSW Government is working to improve assessment timeframes, and reduce red tape, while moving projects to the front of the funding queue if they deliver greater public benefits, create jobs and keep the economy moving. Canada has designed bespoke land development and planning rules for CentrePort North to expedite the build of this massive logistics hub with its air, road and rail links. This is a model that could be useful to consider in Ireland - for example on major strategic development or infrastructure zones.

People and Skills

Delivery also depends on having enough people with the right skills. There’s a shortage of skilled workers across construction, engineering, and project management. There is a clear need to invest in training, upskilling and workforce planning, while also harnessing technology to support more efficient delivery.

Sweden has made a long-term investment in modular construction which has helped ease labour constraints while maintaining quality and pace. Modular housing has enabled Sweden to build affordable, high-quality homes more quickly and efficiently.  Modern Methods of Construction, such as modular homes and off-site construction, as well as the use of technology, are increasingly common in Ireland but need to be scaled up in tandem with our ambition.

Capacity Constraints

There are also real-world capacity limits to Ireland’s infrastructure ambitions. The volume of planned projects globally means that specialist contractors have projects across multiple countries to choose from at any given time. 

Ireland is competing globally for contractors, capital, and talent. To win, we need to offer transparent procurement processes, predictable delivery timelines and fair risk allocation through market-standard contract structures.

Attracting bidders to major projects can require incentivising them to bid in the first place. In Victoria, Australia, there are clear criteria for when the Government will provide partial bid cost reimbursement. This can have an upfront cost but holds the potential to attract more international expertise and interest, and can make the contest more competitive on cost and quality.

Infrastructure is interdependent

Housing, energy, water and transport are deeply interconnected. A house without a water supply or the ability to connect to the energy grid is not going to work for anyone and a delay in development in one area of these core infrastructure services can have a much wider impact. Infrastructure investment should be approached like a jigsaw, fitting the different pieces of critical infrastructure together in the right order to unlock value across all sectors.

Ireland’s Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce – established in May - is a welcome step in bringing together the various infrastructure agencies to coordinate delivery, but it must be empowered with the resources it needs to do this work. Equally as important will be the need for infrastructure stakeholders - such as the approving Departments, regulators and planning and licensing agencies to be equipped with the resources and capability needed to support this unprecedented level of infrastructure investment.

Crowding In the Private Sector

Government investment can act as a catalyst for private capital and we need to do all we can to leverage this potential fully.  Partnering with the private sector can bring expertise, innovation, and risk-sharing to complex projects. However, misalignment in policy and priorities between agencies and wider government, as well as planning issues, can deter private sector parties who can choose from a menu of projects in other countries so we must be careful in this regard to ensure the right balance.

There is potential for these partnerships between the public and private sectors to share risk and speed up delivery. We only need to look back to our near past to see their impact. Ireland’s motorway network, over 20,000 school places (primary and post primary), the Luas line extensions to Citywest and Cherrywood, and the growth of Ireland’s onshore wind energy sector all shows the value of partnership and good policy frameworks to attract private sector involvement.

Infrastructure is invisible when it works. But the consequences are felt everywhere when it doesn’t. We are at an important inflection point in our economy and with the new National Development Plan, we have an opportunity to now move from ambition to action and to build with confidence. Let’s get to work.

Ferga Kane is a Partner and Infrastructure and Real Estate Sector Lead at EY Ireland

This article was originally published in the Business Post on 26th July as "Global models show how government can deliver vital NDP infrastructure effectively".

Notes to Editors

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