ieExplains: The Government's 'Accelerating Infrastructure' plan

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris at the launch the 'Accelerating Infrastructure - Report and Action Plan', at  Government Buildings in Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Almost a year on from the formation of the Government, a plan to speed up the delivery of key infrastructure has been published.

The Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, overseen by public expenditure minister Jack Chambers, contains a series of reforms to improve how Ireland delivers infrastructure.

What exactly was published on Wednesday?

The plan has a list of 30 actions the Government will now take to seek to improve its ability to deliver infrastructure.

These are split across four pillars:  Legal Reform;  Regulatory Reform and Simplification;  Delivery and Coordination Reform; and  Public Acceptance.

What is happening with judicial reviews?

The main focus in recent weeks has been on how the Government will tackle increasing levels of judicial reviews taken against projects.

Recent figures obtained by Fine Gael’s Colm Burke show there were 106 judicial reviews lodged in the first six months of 2025, while there were a total of 147 in 2024.

The Government intends to reform judicial reviews in a number of ways.

This includes a proposal for the use of tests, where courts would be asked to consider whether a judicial review would be successful before the case can be taken.

There would also be a new scale of fees for environmental judicial reviews, which would cap costs to the State and other parties.

The Government will also consider limiting judicial reviews to applicants who are likely to be directly impacted by developments.

More significant reforms to judicial reviews will come through a new Civil Reform Bill, where the cases would be placed on a direct statutory footing.

This would give the Government more control over the circumstances in which they are used.

This would mean judicial reviews could only be taken on the final planning decision of a major infrastructure project rather than against multiple stages.

Consideration is also being given to replacing project delays with damages, meaning that flaws in issues like planning would be addressed after the fact through payments.

These reforms are further down the line, however, with the Government not expecting to have the Civil Reform Bill enacted until mid-2207.

What about emergency infrastructure?

This is going to be dealt with through a new Critical Infrastructure Bill, set to be drafted and published in the middle of next year.

The Government says this new bill will create a “legal obligation for State bodies to recognise and accelerate key projects through planning, licensing, and other consenting stages”.

Consideration will also be given to including statutory timelines for projects which fall under the law.

The report says that by introducing such timelines, there will be shorter consent periods and it will reduce the risk of judicial review.

What projects will be considered as critical infrastructure?

It will be for water, energy and transport projects.

So it could be used for new water treatment facilities, power plants and major public transport infrastructure or roads projects.

In Cork, the Cork Luas project could be one of these critical infrastructure projects that could be sped up.

Are changes being made to regulations?

There will be, with the plan calling for the introduction of a new simplification unit to deal with complex laws and rules.

This unit will initially assess whether the existing regulatory process for critical infrastructure projects is “fit for purpose".

This could include a new single environmental permissions process, described in the report as a “radical reform option".

The Government has claimed the process of streamlining regulations across the State will be particularly “complex and time consuming”, with measures set to be introduced over a period of nine months between Q2 2026 and Q1 2027.

It is expected there will be a requirement for additional legislation and restructuring of organisations to deal with this streamlining.

When will all these changes come into effect?

There is a series of different timeframes for each of the 30 actions.

However, most actions are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026, with some expected to be done in 2027.