National Development Plan dubbed a rehash of old targets and 'hopelessly vague' 

One of the country's foremost transport experts Dr Brian Caulfield said the latest iteration of the NDP is similar to what has been mooted for almost 15 years, but not acted upon. Picture: Julien Behal

The new €165bn National Development Plan is a rehash of old transport targets, lacks ambition in addressing our climate targets and is "hopelessly vague", experts and the opposition claim.

The 10-year plan includes a €35bn investment package for the country's transport system, with €12bn for public transport, €6bn for roads and €4bn for walking and cycling infrastructure. It also includes more than 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030.

However, critics say it is a glossy document that lacks clear targets on when key projects will be delivered at a time when the need to tackle climate change is urgent.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the revised NDP is the "largest and most environmentally conscious development plan in the history of the State".

However, one of the country's foremost transport experts Dr Brian Caulfield said the latest iteration of the NDP is similar to what has been mooted for almost 15 years, but not acted upon.

Dr Caulfield, Trinity associate professor in the department of civil, structural, and environmental engineering, told the Irish Examiner that public transport and big projects included in the NDP have been there since 2007. 

Yet we have dithered and all we have delivered on is motorways. From a climate perspective, we cannot afford to mess up again, and that is the bottom line. There cannot be another NDP that announces Dublin Metro to the airport. That just cannot happen. The time for that has been and gone.

"We need to double down on these projects and actually deliver them. These are the projects that are the farthest down the line in terms of planning, and then we are told that it is going to be delayed by another seven years."

It was confirmed last month that Dublin Metrolink, the largest-ever State infrastructure project, will not be concluded by 2027 and could be delayed by up to seven years.

Paralysis by analysis stifling progress

"Paralysis by analysis" is stifling progress, Dr Caulfield said.

"What would be more impressive are contracts being signed and construction starting rather than a glossy plan being announced every two or three years. Public transport is over-analysed. Someone comes along to say they have another better way to do it, and another person comes along to say they have an even better way. We get this inertia and stagnation. 

There is an urgency to this. It’s going to be 18C this week, the first week in October – you only need to look around you to realise something isn’t right. We need to be much more ambitious and quicker. Otherwise we will constantly go around in circles, delivering motorways."

University College Cork economics lecturer and former co-director of the Spatial and Regional Economics Research Centre, Dr Declan Jordan, said while there is much to like about the plan, it is regionally imbalanced from the so-called 2:1 ratio.

The 2:1 refers to spending levels on public transport compared to roads. 

Mr Jordan said: "When you take out Dublin, it is not going to be 2:1 in Cork, Limerick, or Galway. It will be a lot less – in fact, there will be more roads as opposed to public transport. When you come to the regions, that 2:1 doesn’t apply. That 2:1 should have applied proportionately – if it applies in Dublin, it has to apply regionally as well," he said.

Sinn Féin Transport spokesperson Darren O’Rourke said removal of completion dates for key transport projects meant the plan was "a booklet designed to keep backbench TDs happy".

“Some of the projects included in this document have been launched repeatedly over two decades but remain undelivered, so many will be forgiven for thinking today is nothing more than political theatre."

Labour's Ged Nash called the document "a work of fiction" and "hopelessly vague".