Catch up National Development Plan inspires little confidence that there is a detailed and coordinated plan for infrastructural development in Ireland.

• Hype of €100b over next 5 years punctured with little or no detail
• Little certainty about future delivery given that chunk of spend is backloaded to period where we have little or no economic certainty at end of decade.
• €1.5bn tax cut splurge in Budget 2026
• No sign of urgency on the climate and cost of living crisis with almost half of spend backended to 2029 and 2030

Responding to the review of the National Development Plan today, Labour TD Marie Sherlock has said the publication inspires little confidence that Government actually has a detailed and coordinated plan for infrastructural development in Ireland.

Deputy Sherlock said:

“This hype of the €100bn has been punctured with little or no detail. We have a farcical situation where Government is only now commissioning consultants to look at construction employment, years after we knew we have a problem. The reality is that this is a catch up National Development Plan, where the supply of housing and public infrastructure has fallen far behind the growth of our economy and our population. Yet we see little urgency on meeting our climate targets with almost 50% of the spend back ended to 2029 and 2030.

“Despite all the talk about Metrolink, the €2bn is hardly a vote of confidence that it will be substantively progressed in this decade. It is supposed to be a six-year construction project due to finish in the early 2030’s but €2bn amounts to only 8%-16% of the total cost.

“Housing rightly gets a substantial uplift in the five year but then bizarrely the plan takes the foot off the peddle with a reduction in capital funding in 2030. Given the scale of the housing need well into the next decade, we have to ask whether the NDP is an accounting exercise to make promises add up to the €102bn or whether they reflect the plan for delivery.

“On paper, health is set to receive more than a 60% increase in capital funding, but with electronic health records capable of gobbling up €2bn of the extra €3.55bn allocation, questions needs to be asked about the Government’s commitments in recent times to developing more public nursing homes and community step down facilities on top of the existing requirements to fund new A&E in Beaumont, the New Maternity Hospital, and additional acute hospital beds. Ultimately, we need to see a clear plan from Government about how we will achieve up to 6,800 inpatient beds which is the projected need by 2040.

“Ultimately, the NDP must be about permanently reducing the cost of living for households with regard to energy costs, housing costs, childcare and public transport.

“Today’s NDP is published alongside the Government’s Summer Economic Statement and its plan to cut tax by €1.5bn in 2026. This splurge is completely at odds with all semblances of protecting our public finances and prioritising resources on the infrastructure catch up and permanent reduction in the cost of living that so many households need in our country.