Ireland’s Infrastructure Pipeline Expands Under NDP 2025

The National Development Plan (NDP) Review 2025 was issued on 22 July and updates the current 10 year Development Plan from 2020 to 2030. Critical infrastructure across the board will get a spending boost including transport, energy, housing, water, healthcare, climate, education, justice and defence.

Another key consideration is that up to 80,000 additional construction workers will be needed to facilitate these plans. That’s good news for domestic and international developers, contractors and funders. It highlights what we’re seeing that Ireland has a strong pipeline of infrastructure projects and that significant opportunities exist for existing firms and new entrants. While various procurement procedures may be used for new projects, it’s a strong statement of intent by the Government that capital expenditure is being prioritised. The recent Planning & Development Act 2024, which aims to speed up the planning process and the Accelerating Infrastructure taskforce, which aims to identify and remove obstacles to infrastructure delivery, further underlines the focus on this.

Some headline figures in the 2025 NDP Review include:

• €275.4 billion will be spent over the next 10 years, with €202.4 billion of that being Exchequer funding and €63 billion of Non-Exchequer funding
• €102.4 billion in capital investment will be spent between 2026-2030, an increase of €24 billion from the previous plan. The proportional share of capital of total expenditure increased from 11.1% in 2021 to 14.9% in 2025
  
• €100 billion, €20 billion per year, from Exchequer funding will be allocated from 2031-2035, outside of additional funding from once-off funds
  
• Between 2026 and 2030, €24 billion will be provided for extending public transport, roads, electrification, active travel and greenways, €1 billion for research & development activity and €36 billion for housing, among a range of other sectors

Non-Exchequer funding will include:

• €10 billion in equity funding between ESB, Eirgrid and Irish Water for the period 2026-2030 to support the delivery of large projects in the water, energy and transport sectors
• €2 billion has been allocated to MetroLink from the Infrastructure Climate and Nature Fund (ICN Fund). While development of this project is very welcome, allocations from the rainy day ICN Fund, which was originally planned to be used if the public finances were under pressure, may result in a smaller State financial buffer in future, if it’s ever needed. A strong focus on replenishing the ICN Fund would be a prudent measure
• €23.9 billion from the Escrow fund, related to Apple taxes, the sale by Government of shares it holds in Irish banks and from the ICN Fund.
  

This increased capital spending builds on the other measures we looked at earlier this year to improve Ireland’s infrastructure.

Contact our Construction, Infrastructure & Utilities team.

The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other advice.