Infrastructure

Infrastructure problems ahead with rising population and labour shortage, ESRI warns

Think tank says government may have underestimated future needs in areas like housing and energy in the National Development Plan

Alan Barrett, ESRI director. Think tank suggests that ‘the government revisits the analyses undertaken for capital projects and re-assesses the sequencing of projects to account for the demands they will place on resources.’ Picture: Maxwells

The Irish government “faces a dilemma” on major infrastructure projects as it faces challenges such as labour shortages and a rising population, a report has said.

New research by think-tank the ESRI, funded by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, examined the government’s flagship National Development Plan.

While examining any new factors that had emerged since 2021 and how projects could be prioritised, it found that “the earlier level of ...