Ireland’s infrastructure shortfalls are damaging businesses’ finances by driving up costs or hindering efforts to hire workers, most managers believe.
Government plans to spend €250 billion tackling gaps in the State’s water, energy and transport systems, and to speed up house building.
But the challenges posed by poor infrastructure are hindering business and pose a threat to growth, a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD), showed.
More than 70 per cent of members said that deficits in housing, energy, water, transport and broadband are damaging their organisation’s finances, according to the study.
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A third of members said the problems hinder their ability to hire or keep staff. Housing and energy are the leading causes of concern, followed by transport, the survey showed.
Businessman Seán O’Driscoll, a member of the Government’s Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce, who will address the institute’s conference on Tuesday, welcomed the Budget 2027 pledge to invest in the State’s infrastructure.
But he cautioned that the Republic still faced “deep-seated” challenges when it came to completing vital infrastructure projects on time and within their budgets.
“Our infrastructure deficit isn’t a lack of ambition or talent; it is the result of two decades of failing to plan for our own success,” he said ahead of the conference.
[ Confusion in business about looming State rules on AIOpens in new window ]
O’Driscoll branded as worrying business people’s fears that shortfalls are hitting the finances of their companies.
“If we want to safeguard Ireland’s long-term competitiveness and deliver the housing, energy, water and transport systems a growing economy requires, we need clear accountability, faster decision-making, and a willingness to accept and manage risk, rather than being paralysed by it,” he argued.
The IoD’s survey of 427 directors and managers found that more than three in four of them expected growth next year, with 37 per cent of them planning to hire staff and half intending to maintain current employment.
IoD chief executive Caroline Spillane argued that Government should match managers’ plans to grow by cutting the cost of doing business and lowering barriers that hold firms back.
“As we digest the impact of Budget 2027, it is very striking that well over half of business leaders do not feel the business provisions outlined in the previous budget last year have been able to boost competitiveness a full year on,” Spillane said.
About two thirds of business people do not believe that the State has become a more competitive location in which to invest since Budget 2026, the study showed.
O’Driscoll, a former chairman of industrial group Glen Dimplex and the Economic and Social Research Institute, will address the conference, titled Leading in Governance, in Dublin’s Intercontinental Hotel.
Other speakers include Kara Owen, British Ambassador to Ireland, and Prof Stephen Kinsella, economic adviser to Tánaiste Simon Harris.
[ Survey highlights wide gaps in pay for non-executive directorsOpens in new window ]
