In common with many other businesses, American companies in Ireland have identified Ireland’s infrastructure deficit, including in housing and transport, as a potential constraint to future investment.
“Ireland’s infrastructure gap is hurting our collective competitiveness, both with domestic and international businesses,” says Stephen Prendiville, partner and infrastructure, transport and regional government lead at Deloitte Ireland.
“The top issues quoted by FDI companies and domestic expanders are appropriate housing availability, transport, power and utilities. Following closely to this list is having communities that have positivity, liveability and cultural factors – character and soul enough to attract the interest and hold the imagination of critical talent.”
After all, Ireland competes on the global stage for talent, and economic development opportunities.
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“We cannot take our past success for granted, nor should we mistreat our special trade relationships, with the US in particular. Bridging our infrastructure gap is not just about spending more, it is about acceleration today. The Government is making positive moves to do so and showing goodwill – but investors need to see a step change to alter their investment thesis,” says Prendiville.
Ireland needs to treat infrastructure as a holistic system, rather than a list of projects, he adds.
“Housing, transport, energy and digital are interdependent. We see this playing out live in our city centres and regional hubs. They don’t work as intended with only part of the puzzle addressed.”
Prendiville believes prioritisation and delivery should be anchored in a clear, cross‑government view of three things: where population and jobs will grow; the corridors that can sustainably move people and goods; and the infrastructure that unlocks those locations at scale.
“That means a more assertive, spatially driven pipeline and a willingness to stop lower‑value schemes that dilute scarce delivery capacity,” he says. “Sprinkling schemes for votes across the country isn’t going to work.”
The State needs to scale delivery capacity, not just budgets, he adds. “Yes, this means using new digital tools and capabilities to leverage resources more effectively, to reduce waste, to increase delivery confidence. But it also means not trying to do everything themselves – leveraging the private sector more effectively, tapping into partnership opportunities and seeking not only to leverage delivery capability but investment, innovation and ingenuity,” says Prendiville.
In a world where capital, talent and technology are mobile, countries that can move fast will win. “Thankfully, Ireland’s relationship with the US may also be key to addressing our infrastructure gap – if we can leverage our collective capabilities together,” he says.
“Closing Ireland’s infrastructure gap is not optional, it is central to sustaining the investment that has underpinned our prosperity to date. It will take all of us together to make this happen now.”
As chief operating officer at Sisk, Ireland’s largest internationally operating construction and engineering company, with responsibility for data centres, life science and technology sectors, Donal McCarthy too believes infrastructural investment is a key focus area.
“Sisk’s strategy is designed to align with the National Development Plan’s (NDP) strategic allocations. We’re very much here to support increased delivery across housing, transport, energy and water under the NDP, and we need good visibility on the project pipeline so we can invest ahead of the curve,” he explains.
Energy and water are huge growth and spend areas for the NDP. “We are active in these sectors and feel we can support delivery,” says McCarthy.
“As well as supporting national infrastructure plans, our strategy also looks at areas such as battery storage, energy transmission and substations, where we have delivered numerous projects to date. Energy is a huge and growing market, not only in Ireland and the UK, but also on mainland Europe.”
The Government asked for industry inputs on the NDP and McCarthy has a “strong sense that it listened to us”. He points to the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, its action plan and report, and the Critical Infrastructure Bill as positive developments that back this up. “Key to success will be how the Government actually deploys that Bill once it’s enacted,” he cautions.
Delivering the infrastructure required, particularly as we move towards greater digital adoption, AI, electrification and renewable energy, is now critically important if Ireland is to keep pace globally.
“It is vital that Ireland remains competitive in attracting FDI projects, and delivering best-in-class infrastructure is fundamental to this,” says McCarthy.
