Ireland’s Infrastructure Crisis

Ireland remains the only Western European country without a metro system (Flickr).

Despite a growing economy, Ireland continues to face an expansive infrastructure crisis, which affects the housing, transportation, and medical sectors. This crisis, according to the current Irish prime minister Simon Harris, could become a “drag” on the country’s future competitiveness with other high-income European countries. 

 In order to meet rising housing demand and the needs of a population that has almost doubled since the 1960s, Ireland needs to build 52,000 homes a year from now until 2050, which is 1.5 times the current production. Due to this lack of supply, housing prices across the country have skyrocketed in recent years, increasing by more than ten percent in Cork and becoming some of the highest across Europe. Simultaneously, despite planning starting nine years ago, the National Children’s Hospital in Dublin remains incomplete. Construction has been plagued by setbacks and inefficiency and has tripled in cost since the beginning. In addition, the Dublin MetroLink line, which is meant to solve transportation inefficiencies, has been in progress for over 20 years and appears to not have a clear finish date.

 These delays seem to be occurring due to a lack of funding and government preparedness to expand productivity. According to The Irish Times, construction firms within Ireland are about half as productive as their peers in other high-income European countries due to a hesitancy to increase investment. The businesses’ hesitancy stems from both the lasting impacts of the 2009 financial crisis, which reduced investment spending, and the smaller size of these firms. The result is that firms have been slow to use modern construction techniques. Similar ineffectiveness has plagued the government as well, which lacks the experience to carry out larger projects. While the government has proposed the creation of an infrastructure department, the civil servants who would then be in charge of these projects are not experts in construction or engineering. Unlike more specialized agencies like Transport Infrastructure Ireland, they would not know how to proceed. Government congestion regarding complex planning and regulation issues has also made it harder to move forward with new projects and keep pace with growing needs. The new Planning and Development Law 2023, which was passed this year, is meant to address these issues by consolidating all of Irish planning law into one. 

In spite of these larger issues, the Irish economy continues to grow. Recently, after a decision from the European Union court, Apple paid Ireland $14 billion in back taxes. This recent influx of money is just one of many streams of revenue that Ireland receives from foreign multinational companies, which make up 70 percent of the nation’s direct investment and account for 50 percent of its 38 billion Euro corporate tax intake. Due in part to this increase in foreign investment, Ireland’s economy is expected to increase by two percent this year and have a budget surplus worth approximately three percent of its national income. While this economic growth is overall positive for Ireland, it is imperative that the government harnesses it to solve the country’s current infrastructure challenges. Otherwise, Ireland could be at a disadvantage for future investment, as other European countries have stronger infrastructure policies. 

As Ireland approaches its general election, the need for the government to address these issues will take center stage. The opposition to the incumbent government has already criticized their lack of progress. In response, Fine Gael, led by Taoiseach Simon Harris, proposed a 40 billion Euro plan to build over 300,000 homes in the coming six years which would provide government support for both home buyers and renters. With this announcement, he preemptivelycombated doubts over the government’s ability to fulfill these claims, stating that the party is willing to “put its money where its mouth is.” However, until the Irish people decide who to support, the future of Ireland’s long-standing infrastructure issues will remain unclear.