The Government’s announcement this week of an unprecedented level of funding for the National Development Plan (NDP) ought to have been a moment of clarity. Instead, the lack of detail accompanying Tuesday’s statement leaves too many key questions unanswered. This is particularly true when it comes to transport infrastructure.
It was already clear that the Government intended to depart from the previous administration’s approach to transport policy. Gone is the stated commitment to allocate twice as much funding to public transport and active travel as to roads. In its place is a more ambiguous outlook, with a greater openness to road-building. What is not yet clear is what this shift means in practice.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of MetroLink, a massive public transport investment for Dublin, may distort the overall picture. While its scale is historic, it risks masking underinvestment in other vital areas. What of light rail proposals for Cork and Galway? What is the likelihood of accelerating the painfully slow rollout of the BusConnects project in the capital, or the long-overdue upgrades to regional bus and rail networks across the country? These are not luxuries, but necessities in a State with mounting infrastructure needs and legally binding climate commitments.
The politics surrounding the NDP should also be acknowledged. When the Government was being formed, revisions to the plan were widely seen as part of the informal understandings struck with Independents for their support. If, as expected, projects are confirmed later in the year that benefit specific constituencies, it will come as little surprise if Independent TDs are quick to claim credit. That is how Irish politics works, for better or worse.
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Nonetheless, deal-making cannot override legal obligations. Infrastructure development must be consistent with Ireland’s climate goals. Courts north of the Border have already shown, in the case of the A5 road scheme, that they are willing to intervene when environmental commitments agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive come into conflict with road projects. The Government should be under no illusion that its own projects will be treated differently.
Transport is only one strand of the wider infrastructure challenge Ireland faces, alongside housing, energy and water. But it is a crucial one. Investment decisions made now will shape emissions profiles, economic opportunities and quality of life for decades to come. The NDP must therefore be more than a series of headline figures and local announcements.
This week’s announcement may represent a fiscal high point, but it has so far delivered little in the way of strategic clarity. Without firm answers and full transparency, the road ahead is likely to remain strewn with pitfalls and, indeed, potholes.
