Ireland publishes ambitious infrastructure action plan

Catherine Burns and Ciaran McNamara of Pinsent Masons were commenting following the Irish government unveiling a new action plan that pledges to “drive the efficient delivery of infrastructure across Ireland.”

The plan (140 pages /7.4MB), published on 3 December, outlines thirty specific, time-bound measures to address 12 barriers to infrastructure development that were identified in a report (49 pages/ 1,042KB) published in July.

These barriers include increased regulatory burdens, the threat of judicial reviews, inconsistent planning and decisions and timelines, procurement challenges and uncertainty in long-term project planning related primarily to developments in the electricity network, water and transport infrastructure across the country.

The paper proposes a four-pillar approach to tackling these challenges, starting with legal reform, regulatory reform and simplification and co-ordination and delivery reform of housing, energy, water, public transport and roads infrastructure.

It also says securing public acceptance will be essential to deliver the €275.4 billion in public capital investment required to fund critical infrastructure developments from building housing, upgrading water and energy infrastructure to delivering more roads and providing better public transport by 2035 in line with the government’s national development plan.

Burns said the government’s announcements would send a further positive signal to investors and other stakeholders in the construction industry following the publication of the National Development Plan, but there still needed to be a clearer roadmap of project timelines and implementation to ensure that ambitious plan can effectively address the existing barriers to critical infrastructure development in Ireland.

In particular, the thirty point action plan includes a proposal to reform judicial review to limit unnecessary hold-ups and bottlenecks in delivering major infrastructure projects. The government says this would help an “ever-increasing tide of judicial reviews” that threaten to “drown our courts system, paralyse infrastructure development and prevent the effective administration of justice.” The report indicates that there was a 43% increase in the number of judicial reviews last year compared with 2023 and, as of November 2025, a further 30% increase this year. The reform of the judicial review system has been the topic of discussion and was an anticipated outcome from the plan, but the key, says Burns, is seeing draft legislation come before the Oireachtas in 2026 as part of the legal reform proposals.

The paper sets out several other legislative proposals, including measures to shorten development timelines and rationalise legislation underpinning regulatory processes; streamlining the government's approach to applicable EU legislation on critical infrastructure; and introducing reforms to licensing and consenting bodies to improve coordination across the sector.

McNamara said: “The action plan is a bold statement of intent from the government in its bid to address Ireland’s ongoing infrastructure deficit and what has been a long term issue in Ireland and elsewhere, namely that the development and delivery of critical infrastructure be it housing, water, grid or anything else simply takes far too long. In that regard, the plan will be welcomed by those operating in Irish infrastructure sector, as will the acknowledgement that a key part of achieving the aims of the plan will be to foster much greater buy-in and support from the wider public to the benefits prioritising this critical infrastructure.”

“The issue of public acceptance is clearly part of the overall challenge to be addressed, and it remains to be seen how the proposed reform of the judicial review process will be perceived by the public, vis-à-vis the rights of the individual under the Irish Constitution. However, what is clear is that all of us involved in the infrastructure sector, from the government to the companies and individuals working to deliver these projects, need to improve how we communicate the benefits of critical infrastructure to the impacted communities and the wider public in general,” he said.