Project Ireland 2040 is the government’s long-term overarching strategy to make Ireland a better country for all and to build a more resilient and sustainable future. The strategy ensures the alignment of investment plans with the stated National Strategic Objectives for 2040 in a considered, cohesive and defined manner. This represents a shift from the approach of the past, which saw funding spread thinly across sectors and public investment decisions. Alongside the development of physical infrastructure, Project Ireland 2040 supports business and communities across all of Ireland in realising their potential.
The National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan 2021-2030 combine to form Project Ireland 2040. The NPF sets the vision and strategy for the development of our country to 2040 and the NDP provides the enabling investment to implement that strategy.
The aim of Project Ireland 2040 is to construct an improved Ireland for all of us. By 2040, there will be approximately one million additional people living here in Ireland. This population growth will require hundreds of thousands of new jobs, new homes, heightened cultural, and social amenities, enhanced regional connectivity and improved environmental sustainability. Project Ireland 2040 sets out to deliver these.
The Infrastructure Guidelines set out the value for money guidelines for the evaluation, planning and management of public investment projects, including purchase or acquisitions of assets or shareholdings, in Ireland. The Guide replaces the Public Spending Code requirements for capital expenditure outlined in Public Spending Code: A Guide to Evaluating, Planning and Managing Public Investment, December 2019. The arrangements set out in the Guide apply to all public bodies and all bodies in receipt of Exchequer capital funding.
The Government has committed €165 billion in capital investment through the National Development Plan 2021-30 (NDP) published in 2021 which will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action and provide good outcomes for our people. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. Achieving value for money and reducing cost and schedule overruns through robust oversight and governance arrangements is a vital part of delivering the NDP.
The NDP supports economic, social, environmental and cultural development across all parts of the country under Project Ireland 2040, in parallel with the National Planning Framework (NPF) which sets the overarching spatial strategy for the next twenty years. The alignment of the NDP and NPF under Project Ireland 2040 creates a unified and coherent plan for the country by ensuring our investment strategy supports spatial planning behind a shared set of strategic objectives for rural, regional and urban development, and will strengthen the link with the Climate Action Plan and other sectoral policies.
Prospects 2023/2024 sets out a clear pipeline for some of the largest individual projects that comprise Project Ireland 2040. This sample of the pipeline spans projects which are currently at planning and appraisal stage to projects which are nearing completion. We invite construction firms, in Ireland, the EU and internationally, to consider the role that they can play in delivering these projects and in doing so help us fulfil the ambitious vision we have created in Project Ireland 2040.