Accelerating Infrastructure: A brave decision that has injected hope into a failing system.
After years of delays, spiralling costs, and mounting frustration, the Government’s new Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan promises a radical shift in how we deliver the projects that underpin housing, energy, and economic growth. It is a brave decision by this Government, and if it works, the future will be much brighter for everyone.
Mobility and Infrastructure
The Government has set out a bold, overdue agenda to tackle a mounting infrastructure backlog. The Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan contains 30 actions across four pillars and, crucially, targets implementation for over 60% of the actions in Q1 and Q2 of 2026. With robust oversight from the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, chaired by Minister Jack Chambers TD, it’s a hard reset on how we plan, fund, consent and deliver national priorities.
The core message is simple: our current system is too slow, too complex and too fragmented. Delivery cycles are lengthening, costs are rising, and the “procedural” consequences of error often outweigh the consequences of delay. Meanwhile, communities are living with the daily impacts of an infrastructure deficit.
This plan aims to cut through that, balancing reform with responsibility: faster delivery without cutting corners, better governance without hollowing out safeguards, and meaningful public engagement without the abuse of objections. It is a tall ask but if it is done right - and it won’t take long to know - it will totally revolutionise our country.
What’s changing?
- Emergency powers legislation to fast-track capital projects in the national interest.
- Regulatory sweep to reduce over-implementation of EU law and streamline duplicative processes.
- Judicial review reform to curb abuse, examining standing, tightening timelines, and tackling runaway legal costs, while preserving legitimate scrutiny.
- Clearer governance and accountability, including a national masterplan approach in energy, multiyear funding certainty, and strengthened cross-department coordination.
The scale of the problem
Delivery times are now significantly longer than a decade ago. Electricity substations take 5–6 years for a typical project and up to 8.5 years for complex developments. It can take up to 15 years to complete major roads. Those timelines are incompatible with our national ambitions on housing, climate, competitiveness, and quality of life.
The housing crisis is well-versed, and we all recognise you cannot fix housing without fixing the grid, the wastewater systems, the roads, the rail, and the planning process. This plan connects those dots. We cannot unlock supply for homes, industry and renewables if the grid, roads, and utilities remain stuck in slow motion.
Making value visible
One of the most encouraging actions is the creation of a Benefits Realisation Framework for Infrastructure Projects. People will back projects they understand. If we can show what they do for safety, bills, air quality, journey times and housing, the vast majority will get on board.
Communication, engagement and visible progress will all help to build trust. Confidence grows when people see the shovels in the ground and the benefits starting to come to life.
The common good should be common sense
The plan aims to stop the “weaponising” of objections, where repeat objectors or procedural gaming stall developments. That’s necessary.
It is understandable that there are concerns about the changes to judicial reviews and deregulation, particularly when it comes to ensuring the environmental integrity of development.
The topic of deregulation may concern many Irish people, as there may be a fear of a return to behaviours of years gone by. That is not the objective of this Action Plan. It sets out clear examples of where we have over-regulated ourselves, for laudable reasons, but the consequences are significant.
One striking example of regulatory “gold-plating” is in wastewater infrastructure. Under the EU EIA Directive, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is only mandatory for treatment plants serving more than 150,000 population equivalent. However, when we were transposing the Directive in Ireland, we lowered this threshold to 10,000 population equivalent. As a result, Uisce Éireann have to carry out far more EIAs than required under EU law or in other jurisdictions. This adds significant time and cost, slowing the rollout of critical wastewater projects and hindering progress on environmental improvements.
Cutting corners on assessments, environmental or otherwise, helps no one - not communities, not nature, not long-term project viability. The challenge is ensuring rigour with speed: proportionate, evidence-based assessments, done once and done well, with clear accountability.
Goodwill will only last for so long
From our recent conversations across industry stakeholders, the reception to this plan has been remarkably positive. There is goodwill from players across the entirety of the system, so the Government must capitalise on it.
The action plan is packed with clear actions, timelines and KPIs, but there are still opportunities to engage to understand or clarify some details. Grey areas don’t lend well to getting work done – we are here to help if you need support in clearing up any ambiguity. Delivery is now the name of the game, and for the first time in quite a while, there is hope that Ireland can fix the broken system and deliver for the future of society and the economy.
By Lorna Fitzpatrick, Director