Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Jack Chambers announces government approval to a series of actions to accelerate the delivery of strategic infrastructure

Minister Chambers today (16th April 2025) welcomed the agreement by Government to a series of actions to accelerate the delivery of strategic infrastructure to support the delivery of housing and improvements in competitiveness.

The Minister informed Government of the key actions that he will lead over the coming months to accelerate infrastructure delivery, including:

• The review of the National Development Plan, agreed by Government earlier this month, for which his Department has issued guidance to all Departments emphasising the Programme for Government’s prioritisation of increased investment in growth enhancing infrastructure, such as energy grid capacity, water supply, transport connectivity and health digitalisation.
• The establishment of a new Infrastructure Division within his Department, which will include seconded experts from key delivery agencies, such as ESB Networks, Eirgrid, Uisce Eireann, Transport Infrastructure Ireland. These secondees will bring their experience and expertise to develop impactful policies that improve infrastructure delivery.
• The preparation of an evidence-based assessment of the barriers impeding timely infrastructure development, which will inform an Action Plan of high-impact reform measures that Government will consider for implementation.
• The establishment of a new Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce that the Minister will chair and which will meet monthly, and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan’s measures. The taskforce’s membership will include a small number of senior leaders with direct experience of infrastructure development and they will be joined by the CEOs of the semi-states most integral to infrastructure development.
• The expansion of the role of the National Development Finance Agency, which will provide Departments with additional expert assistance and support on major public capital investment projects through dedicated support teams for specific projects referred to it.

On announcing the expansion of his Department’s infrastructure delivery responsibilities, Minister Chambers said:

“Today I am outlining a meaningful agenda for infrastructure reform, in which my Department will second experts from key State agencies to systematically assess and quantify the steps in delivering critical State infrastructure. This work is vital in developing an action plan that will target high impact reform measures to speed up the building of the State’s infrastructure.

“The implementation of the action plan will be overseen by a new Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce that will bring together private sector leaders and the CEOs of key State utilities, all of whom are focused on delivering infrastructure to meet the Government’s housing and competitiveness objectives.

“In addition, the National Development Finance Agency will expand its support for major projects by offering project management, planning, financial expertise support to Government Departments. Making this strategic support available at early stages in the project development lifecycle will accelerate project delivery, while ensuring that best practice in each of these areas are mainstreamed. This will allow for greater standardisation, driving down the cost of public infrastructure.

“The programme of work for my Department is ambitious but achievable, as this Government wants to ensure our economy is capable of sustainable prosperity. Investment in key strategic infrastructure is vital to improve our competitiveness, and particularly so when we face such global uncertainty. The Government is determined to do everything in our control to support our economy and our people.”

Minister of State for Public Procurement, Digitalisation and eGovernment Emer Higgins T.D. said:

"Infrastructure delivery is a key priority for this government. This country needs to get much better at delivering infrastructure projects and delivering them in a timely and efficient way particularly at this time of economic turbulence and uncertainty.

"While Ireland performs well on a number of metrics, it’s clear we are behind when it comes to infrastructure. So we have to break down silos, we have to get agencies to work together, and we have to look at some the blockages that can often exist. We have ambitious capital plans for health and education and getting these delivered in a timely way is key to our societal and economic well-being.

"Today, we are outlining a number of measures to speed up projects and reform how infrastructure is delivered in Ireland. We’re asking Departments to put a major focus on competitiveness as part of the NDP review and this new Infrastructure Division in the Department of Public Expenditure will be key to delivering on this. These new structures will deliver a step change in terms of how we deliver major capital projects."

ENDS