Irish infrastructure 2026 – 2035: A decade of opportunities

Recent capital expenditure plans in Ireland will be of interest to international consultants and contractors seeking opportunities in the next 10 years.

In Q3 of 2025, the Irish Government published its updated National Development Plan (NDP), which set out the largest capital investment in the State’s history, of over €275 billion.

In addition, in Q4 2025, the government published the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan (AIRAP), aimed specifically at accelerating the delivery of critical infrastructure in Ireland.

Together, the updated NDP and the AIRAP aim to address the country’s infrastructure deficit by delivering key investments in housing, transport, water and energy as well as improve the efficiency in the delivery of those projects.

The historic level of investment presents significant opportunity for consultants and contractors to become engaged on large-scale, high-value, critical infrastructure projects in Ireland.

The National Development Plan Review 2025

The updated NDP has been described as the most ambitious capital investment programme in Ireland’s history. The plan runs from 2026 to 2035 and pledges €275.4 billion to improving the country’s critical infrastructure, including housing, water, energy and transport.

The NDP identifies four key drivers supporting the need for capital expenditure: population growth, climate objectives, ensuring balanced regional development and increasing Ireland’s competitiveness.

The NDP’s funding allocation for key capital expenditure items is as follows:

• Housing €36 billion
• Transport €22.3 billion
• Water Infrastructure €12 billion
• Education €7.6 billion
• Health €9.3 billion

Housing, unsurprisingly given the housing crisis in Ireland, receives the largest allocation under the NDP. This funding is intended both to meet housing need and invest in the underlying infrastructure required to support increased private sector building.

Transport is second with six sectors[1] allocated funding, the most significant of which relates to Public Transport (€10bn) and Road Networks (€9.7bn). An additional €2bn has been allocated to Dublin’s Metrolink Project from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund, due to its status as a low carbon transport project.

The Sectoral Investment Plan for Transport sets out specific projects to which the allocations will be applied. In public transport, this includes a wide range of bus and rail projects nationwide, with a similar position for roads. Most projects are not yet at tender stage, presenting significant opportunity across these sectors.

Upgrades to water infrastructure have been allocated over €12 billion, including provision to support the delivery of 300,000 new houses by 2030.

€7.6 billion has been allocated for the construction of new schools and the health sector has been allocated €9.25 billion.

Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan

The AIRAP was published in December 2025 with the key goal of removing obstacles to the efficient delivery of critical infrastructure in Ireland. Its focus is on delivery of transport, energy and water infrastructure projects.

The AIRAP acknowledges the State’s slow progress in delivering infrastructure, noting that development lifecycles for infrastructure projects in Ireland have doubled over the last 20 years and aims to address this to complement the NDP. The Action Plan identifies 30 actions to accelerate infrastructure delivery, grouped under four pillars: Legal Reform, Regulatory Reform and Simplification, Coordination and Delivery Reform, and Public Acceptance.

Key actions include:

• Reform of judicial review processes: to make it more difficult for parties to commence cases and to put judicial review on statutory footing, allowing government more control over the process and reducing the number of projects held back by legal proceedings. This is being progressed by government via the introduction of the Civil Reform Bill published in January 2026.
• Critical Infrastructure Bill & Emergency Powers: to designate certain projects as strategically important (including prioritising those seen as important to the State’s economic or social development) and to create fast-track pathways for delivery. The Bill was announced in early April 2026, and it will be important to monitor the evolution of this legislation alongside other planning reforms, infrastructure packages and investments.
• Reforms to environmental assessment in parallel with EU Simplification Agenda: reducing and simplifying environmental assessment processes.
• Reforms to procurement processes: amendments to the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF) aimed at increasing flexibility and reducing the adversarial nature of the procurement process, supporting a more collaborative approach and increasing the sharing of risk.
• Introduce risk appetite statements: Government Departments to publish risk appetite statements for critical infrastructure decisions, aimed at supporting delivery and reducing the level of excessive caution in decision-making.
• Increase construction sector capacity and productivity: by streamlining the visa and work permit process and increasing the capacity of vocational and educational institutions, specifically regarding modern construction methods.
• Accelerate projects through consenting processes: amendments to the Infrastructure Guidelines to accelerate the project approvals process.

Opportunities

Taken together, the NDP and the AIRAP indicate that the value and pace of the delivery of critical infrastructure in Ireland from 2026 onward is set to significantly increase. With that comes significant opportunity for all those in the construction sector, particularly consultants and contractors.

The team at Beale & Co have been providing advice to the construction sector in Ireland on public and private projects for over 20 years under many different forms of contract including the standard government forms, NEC3, NEC4, FIDIC, etc., all of which bring different risks or challenges for consultants and contractors.

We advise on all stages of construction projects, from procurement through to completion, on contract drafting, contract administration, dispute avoidance and in formal dispute processes. The team in our Dublin office would be delighted to assist you with any query you may have.

If you would like to discuss anything addressed in this article in the meantime, please contact Killian Dorney, Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Partner and head of our Dublin office.

[1] (1) Active Travel, (2) Public transport, (3) Road Networks & Road Safety, (4) Civil Aviation, (5) Maritime Transport & Safety (6) ICT