Consultation on the National Development Plan Review

The objective of this consultation is to gather views on how investment should be prioritised for the upcoming review of the National Development Plan for 2026 to 2035.

In the past four years, there has been more than €65 billion invested in capital infrastructure projects across our country to improve people’s lives through the National Development Plan. This funding has delivered roads, houses, schools, hospitals and more, all of which have improved the lives of the people living in Ireland.

In tandem with the many examples of successful infrastructure delivery, there has been an increase in demand for infrastructure due to the strong growth in both our economy and population.

There are many factors that contribute to the increased needs for strategic infrastructure, including:

• The requirement to deliver on existing and future housing needs
• Strong economic growth, with record numbers at work
• Higher population growth than previously anticipated, and demographic change placing pressure on infrastructure requirements
• Energy intensity of modern manufacturing and large-scale servers powering cloud / Artificial Intelligence

As evidence of our focus of infrastructure, this Government has prioritised an early review of the National Development Plan, which will be published in July 2025.

The review will encompass all public capital investment through to 2035, and will use State funds, including the Apple Escrow Fund, the proceeds of bank share sales, and broader State funds including the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund.

As a holistic review of public capital spending, the review provides an opportunity to implement this Government’s ambition to prioritise the delivery of transformative, critical and growth-enhancing infrastructure. This will be done by:

• Reallocating capital funding in line with strategic priorities
• Reassessing investment plans and capital programmes
• Updating project costings
• Ensuring a strong focus on value for money and delivery

The scale of the funding required in the identified priority areas, coupled with infrastructure demands across key sectors, indicates the need to strategically prioritise the available funding.

The review will therefore seek to inform how funding is allocated to meet the ambition to improve our infrastructure, especially energy, water, transport and health digitalisation. Improvements to these sectors is required to enable the delivery 300,000 additional homes by 2030 and to boost our competitiveness.

The work of the review, which is being conducted across Government, will inform strategic prioritisation by Government in deciding the capital funding allocations.

We want to ensure that the people who will be affected by the National Development Plan have a say in the review. For that reason, we are inviting responses from relevant stakeholders, including the public, on a series of questions to shape the outcome of the review.

We are inviting responses from relevant stakeholders on a series of questions on what the National Development Plan review should prioritise.

The closing date for submissions is close of business, 26 June 2025.

Please review the privacy notice for the National Development Plan review public consultation here.

To view the consultation, click the button below.