Programme for Government

bk

Some very interesting items coming out about the upcoming programme for government and it sounds pretty good so far.

• New "government infrastructure division" will fall under Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
• "Stable, long-term delivery of essential infrastructure is a priority for the government"
• A review of the National Development Plan "will be completed in July 2025"
• The incoming government will also create "a cabinet committee on infrastructure, chaired by the Taoiseach, to drive infrastructural delivery, accountability and value for money".
• It will be tasked with developing "a sustainable pipeline of projects, allowing for continued investment over the medium to long-term to deliver upon the ambition of the National Development Plan".
• A new Public Investment Act will require that those who commission infrastructure projects (the "sponsoring agencies") must "meet timelines on development of project appraisals and other evaluations". This will "reduce delays in decision making and embed value for money across all capital projects". In order to promote "quicker decision making" the new infrastructure division will work "directly with sponsoring agencies including government departments, the Office of Public Works and State agencies to expedite delivery of project assessments, appraisals, business cases and other stages of the approvals process". It must also "ensure relevant expertise in project management, procurement, planning, engineering and other disciplines is available within the division to aid timely delivery". The division will "work with stakeholders to develop mechanisms to reduce delays in obtaining sanction when directly employing relevant specialist expertise", and it will "meet with sponsoring agencies regularly to review progress of projects".
• More money will go to roads
• The 2:1 expenditure split will be dropped.
• Continued investment in electrification of public transport, cars, bikes
• They will remove the passenger cap from Dublin Airport
• Data Centers won't be impacted by climate goals
• A Transport Police Service to be formed under the NTA

It sounds good to me, it sounds like there is no roll back on the major infrastructure projects and in fact a greater emphasis on actually getting these projects delivered.

A Transport Police of course is great news.

bk

This overall seems to be the key point:

Fully commit to existing projects in the National Development Plan and, as part of the NDP review, develop additional
track capacity, electrification, increased line speeds and new routes to enhance and develop commuter and intercity rail
services.

Basically they are continue to deliver the transport projects outlined in the NDP, no rolling back on it and perhaps even adding some more, I think all very positive news.

As part of the NDP review, examine further investment in light rail for our cities.

More focus on new Luas lines in the NDP?

On fares:

Roll out contactless fare payments on all public transport and keep fares low and affordable.

Hopefully good news for the 90 minute ticket.

Work collaboratively to act on the recommendations from the All-Island Strategic Rail Review to improve
connectivity across the island of Ireland.
Develop additional track capacity, electrification, increased line speeds and new routes to enhance and develop rail
services.

Lots of good sounding things about investment in more buses, BusConnects and light rail for the cities.

Increase investment in greenways, blueways and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure to encourage active travel
and develop urban trailways.

Work with local authorities and State agencies to develop decarbonised zones in our urban areas, focusing on
pedestrianisation, cycling facilities, and use of renewable energy across all transport modes.

Continue to electrify the rail and bus fleets.

Conduct a review of the Bike to Work scheme to boost take-up among all workers.

https://www.finegael.ie/app/uploads/2025/01/Programme-for-Government-2025.pdf

scrabtom

It commits to a feasibility study for extending Metrolink to the South West.

Was that not already done?

KrisW1001

"2:1 split to be dropped" is an interesting way to summarise a capital spending programme that at first reading promises pretty much 2x the roads budget just to national rail, with extensive spending on other PT measures above that.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061166#Comment_123061166

That is just a sop to the rural members and the road lobby. Metrolink, Dart+, and Luas extensions will tilt towards rail and electric buses, and Busconnects will also tilt that balance. Only the M20 is a major road project in the mix, but a lot of bypasses are likely as well.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061198#Comment_123061198

As of right now, the Galway City Ring Road and M20 are the only projects with approaching or more than 10 figure project costs. If the N4 Mullingar-Longford is advanced as one project and the Cork North Ring becomes a route with extensive tunnelling or viaducts, those projects may also approach the 10 figure sum.

As @KrisW1001 points out, the PT projects to be advanced in the PfG will far outweigh any cumulative spending on new roads projects. The 2:1 ratio is just a symbolic initiative fired out at will at Green Party Ard Fheiseanna.

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061198#Comment_123061198

Yes, my guess was about 6-7 billion total in roads, by assuming that everything that's at least in route selection will get to construction. What we've already committed to on DART+ and MetroLink comes to about 12-13 billion, before so much as a cent is pledged for rail electrification, doubling and light rail outside the capital.

Now that construction costs are stabilising a bit, we will see those small-to-medium road projects (<€250 M) starting up again. Those were the most difficult to procure in the last two years, as the companies that normally tender for them are too small to take on the risks of high cost inflation during construction: N5 Scramogue ended up at 2x the original award price- €13 million per kilometre for a single carriageway scheme reflects just how scared contractors were of cost spikes.

spot555

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123059748#Comment_123059748

Think its fairly unambitious, don't think they should be getting any praise for not dropping major infrastructure projects. Lots of promises to look at / examine things, new committees/govt divisions working collaboratively… and very few hard commitments imo.

It would be nice to see a list of projects they intend to start building in the term of this government & what projects will they expedite to start work in this decade rather than waiting til the 2030s/40s/whenever.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061352#Comment_123061352

Well I'm coming from the perspective that many posters have been saying that they would cancel major projects because the Green Party weren't part of government any more and would just build roads. It is good to see them give their full support to the NDP.

But more then that, there seems to be a real emphasis on actually getting projects started and done. With them creating a new Infrastructure division and an Infrastructure committee chaired by the Taoiseach, I think these are major developments and very positive news. There seems to be a recognition that little has been done over the past 5 years and the projects need to actually start to be delivered.

It would be nice to see a list of projects they intend to start building in the term of this government & what projects will they expedite to start work in this decade rather than waiting til the 2030s/40s/whenever.

I wouldn't expect to see that in a PfG, that sort of deal is more for the NDP. Which is why it is good that they are reviewing the NDP in the next 6 months, to clarify that detail.

Though I think their is little benefit to just listing off a bunch of projects in another report that ends up sitting on a shelf.

We have plenty of reports, it is now time to roll up the sleeves and get started building on the projects already planned.

PlatformNine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058388906/programme-for-government

A lot is good to see, I do like the emphasise on getting projects done.

Dropping the 2:1 ratio does worry me a bit, even if it is only being done as a symbolic gesture. I am hoping it we will still see a decent amount of investment into PT infrastructure, rather than just a fresh list of road projects. If they on still keeping all the existing projects and advancing other projects it mentions like FourNorth I think we could still easily reach the 2:1, if anything just from the number of important PT projects over the next few years that are already well advanced. That said, whether they achieve that level of investment or not, I don't think being in the PfG or not isn't going to make a difference.

On the airport cap, I had to read through the PfG because "removing" the airport cap scared me a bit. Thankfully it sounds like the just want to lift it, presumably to the 36 million interim cap? Although, it sounds like the application for that was just rejected for being invalid, so I will be interested to see how they approach that.

Strumms

passenger cap at Dublin airport removed.

We're an island nation whose population has been and is going to continue growing exponentially and therefore are absolutely dependent on aviation.

Absolutely no justification for capping passenger numbers in the first place.

Thunder87

Realistically by the end of the new government we'll hopefully have a handful of projects under construction that have already been committed in every shiny planning doc over the past decade. Anything beyond that will just be going through endless plans and consultations and get nowhere before the government term expires

scrabtom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061971#Comment_123061971

They've committed to working towards removing it. It's not as simple as just ordering it removed as it is a planning issue. I imagine it will take them a while to get it done.

The Mathematician

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061906#Comment_123061906

Was the 2:1 ratio actually dropped though in the sense that the Programme for Government said it was going to be dropped, or was it just not included? I would not be as worried if it was just not included.

I have to say that I did have concerns that if the Green party were not in government, then there would be less focus on public transport, but I am really encouraged by the Programme for Government.

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123062689#Comment_123062689

Not included.

If you do the sums, the promised investments are closer to 3:1 than 2:1.

PlatformNine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123061971#Comment_123061971

Yes and no. While the airport is very important for the reasons you say, there are good reasons to cap passenger numbers. For example, as part of the planning application for 40m passengers a year, there were various improvements included to allow the airport to properly have the capacity rather than just throwing passengers into the mix and hoping it works. I can't remember the improvements off the top of my head, but I believe they included improved security checks, more gates, and additional car parks.

I think part of the reason for the existing passenger cap is because of the capacity of public transport going to the airport. There may be an argument for whether the passenger cap accurately reflects tranport capacity to the airport, and I don't know what the combined capacity of PT and private vehicle access to the airport is, so I can't say. But my point is, that there are definetly very good reasons to cap the number of passengers to an airport, even if it is a critical transport mode as it is for us.

PlatformNine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123062689#Comment_123062689

Like Kris said it just isn't mentioned.

I think it should be fine, it just something I don't like to see, even if it wont have an effect on the PT networks. Reading more closely through the PfG, it does look very good, especially the amount of direct references to the AISRR and existing projects, including FourNorth which I am very happy about.

Cookiemunster

@PlatformNine It's been discussed quite a lot in the Dublin Airport thread in A&A , but the cap is an arbitrary number placed because it was believed that the road connections weren't good enough.

However there's never been an issue with road congestion around the airport and there are now many more bus connections to the airport than there were when the cap was introduced.

There is no physical reason that the airport can't currently handle more than 32m passengers.