Culture can eat infrastructure delivery barriers for breakfast

This opinion piece originally appeared in the Sunday Times on the 4^th January 2026

Ireland knows how to deliver big. From the Ardnacrusha Hydroelectric Scheme, which cost 20 per cent of the fledgling State’s GDP a century ago, to the tens of thousands of social homes built in the 1950s when Ireland was among Europe’s poorest nations, we have repeatedly proven what is possible under the toughest conditions.

More recently, we developed the inter-urban motorway network which has improved the lives of millions of people across the country. Alongside that, we built world class hospitals, thousands of new schools, and the energy system which powered the Celtic Tiger.

The Luas in Dublin is a shining example of the successful delivery of transformative public transport infrastructure. The Dublin Port Tunnel is the unsung hero of our transport system – just imagine what our capital city’s streets would be like if they were snarled up with the thousands of trucks accommodated by the tunnel.

In the private sector, Irish engineering contractors are delivering datacentres for clients across the UK and Europe having proven their capability in Ireland. Their expertise is lost to this country at the moment due to our inability to build new data centres here at home due to energy grid and other constraints.

We are good at delivering infrastructure, however, we just don’t or can’t do it quickly enough.

The Government’s recent Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan with its four pillars and 30 actions will do much to accelerate delivery. But it will take time, time that we don’t really have.

For the first time in our history, money is not the greatest barrier. With over €275 billion of public infrastructure investment planned across the next ten years under the National Development Plan (NDP), and likely more again from the private sector, we are not short of funds.

What we have been short of in recent years, however, is the collective national will to get infrastructure done. This is understandable and Ireland is not unique here. From California to Canberra, countries are facing severe infrastructure deficits following years of under-investment.

Big infrastructure projects are costly and disruptive and take time to deliver and rarely receive an unqualified welcome from the public. There is no such thing as a project, be that a road, an electricity interconnector or an apartment development, that doesn’t disrupt someone in some way even where there is significant public good overall. Where we have failed in Ireland – and again a challenge shared right around the world – is in making the trade-offs and prioritising the public good.

That is why the “public acceptance” pillar of the Accelerating Infrastructure report is so welcome. Of course, we must, as the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Seán Canney, the minister of state for transport, stated in the forward, ‘foster a culture of delivery’ right across Government. Without this, the overall plan will run into sand.

But we must move beyond acceptance to embrace. We must recreate the same, ‘all in’ culture that enabled Ardnacrusha and other projects. A culture where everyone – the public, the private sector and the government – leans in and support the delivery of the NDP and other much needed infrastructure.

It is not just a job for government, but it does start with government. However, it is not just the mechanics of planning and other approvals processes that need to be dealt with. Big infrastructure projects need political champions. We saw that with the national broadband plan where, despite opposition from some, Paschal Donohoe, as finance minister, put his considerable political weight behind it and refused to relent.

The outcome has been a project which has quietly delivered world class broadband connectivity to homes and businesses throughout Ireland and is expected to complete next year on time and within budget. How many infrastructure projects can we say that about?

Changing public attitudes is an altogether different matter. The issue here is not one of a population opposed to development for the sake of it. It is the way that development is presented. When people can see the overall benefits of Government initiatives, they are far more likely to support them.

We need to change the narrative in relation to infrastructure projects. We need to present them in relation to the benefits they will deliver instead of focusing solely on hard numbers to scale and cost.

The benefits of the Metrolink to communities along its route should be highlighted more: the new homes for families, the shorter commutes and reduced transport emissions. New housing developments should be seen in terms of the number of families they will provide homes for rather than their potential to put more traffic on the roads or pressure on existing schools – that’s a separate problem which should be addressed as part of the joined-up thinking envisaged under the Accelerating Infrastructure Plan.

We’ve proven we can do it in the past when we had almost no money. By fostering a culture of support for the delivery of critical infrastructure across housing, energy, transport, water and other aspects of the economy we can improve the lives of all of our citizens in a country we can be proud of.