Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A SINGLE STATE body to handle capital investment is needed to deliver the outstanding challenges to the country, engineers have warned.
The warning has come from Engineers Ireland, who today launched their infrastructure report – The State of Ireland 2017.
The report calls for a body to be established in order to support the new 10-year capital spending plan and the forthcoming National Planning Framework.
Dr Kieran Feighan, the President of Engineers Ireland, says that the delivery of infrastructure in Ireland is “frustrating”.
“While progress has been made in terms of increasing capital investment and quickening of project delivery, there are still some frustrating delays with infrastructure.
“To ensure it can meet its infrastructural goals, the government must address how we deliver our capital projects and Engineers Ireland strongly believes a single infrastructure unit is required to plan investment in key areas such as housing, transport, education, health, energy, water and the digital economy.”
Feighan points to the UK and Switzerland as examples of single bodies which handle infrastructure.
The report recommends that the government:
The Metro idea was revived in 2015 when the last government announced plans to build a 14-stop line by 2026 as part of a capital investment plan. It will cost over €2 billion. The M20 plan, which would upgrade the Cork to Limerick road, has been shelved since 2011.
The report adds that Ireland should develop 5G cellular infrastructure and better fund the National Cyber Security Centre.
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, who launched the report says that the promised €500 million a year from Ireland’s “rainy day fund” will fund much of the work.
“Last week’s Summer Economic Statement reaffirmed our commitment to increase investment by an additional €500 million in each of the years 2019-2021, further developing our economic and social infrastructure and supporting national competitiveness. In fact, capital spending in 2021 will be up 85% relative to 2016.
“Building a modern capital infrastructure that underpins economic growth, raised living standards and a sustainable environment is vital.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I had the misfortune of having to use the N20 for a month because of work I feel sorry for anyone who has to use it all year round. A proper motorway linking the Limerick and Cork is long overdue
@Darren Tully: Is that the road that goes through a town called Buttevant (I think that’s the name)? I used it once about two years ago and I thought I’d have to buy new tyres after it. A new road there is definitely needed. A nice town if I remember.
@Gary: That’s the one.
@Gary: yep, that the road that connects our second and third cities. Long overdue a motorway
@Darren Tully: Long overdue but not to worry, the built a motorway and railway to link the metropolises of Tuam and Gort.Thank god our planners have their priorities right.
@Gary: That road has been upgraded and finished about 6 months ago and is brilliant now. The only problem is that after Mallow you are into a single lane road with few passing points until you get to Croom. As a main road connecting 2 major cities and the western corridor it is a disgrace. There has been talk of a bypass around Buttevant which was first mooted about 20 years ago if I remember correctly.
The politicians in Cork and Limerick bring up the whole M20 idea around election time but once they get up to the Big Smoke they forget about the rest of us.
@Ronan McKeon: Id say they were more likely political decisions, they are the ones who choose what goes ahead and what doesnt… Also the enniscorthy bypass, another 600,000 or so, about to be completed, while the M20, DU and MN are years off construction! Its a scandal!
We need more than an extra €500m on capital spending, we need at least €3bn extra per year over 10 years just to catch up on the lost decade we’ve had.
We should also build a deep water port in Wexford to provide for a direct trade route to the continent after Brexit.
@Fred Jensen: or create a larger one further south to act as a hub between Europe and American markets – competing with Rotterdam, Le Havre and others.
@Fred Jensen: Rosslare and Ringaskiddy have plenty of unused RO-RO capacity. What’s more of a problem is getting the freight to them, as both are down single-carriageway roads.
@Stephen McManus:
Compete with Rotterdam and Le Harve? Will part of the investment in this port cover the building of a bridge to mainland Europe? There is a reason that the ports on mainland Europe have higher volume of traffic than those on the island of Ireland
@Chris Mansfield:
I think some of the larger trade ships that go between the continent and the UK cannot dock at Rosslare however. They’d need to change that.
@Chris Mansfield: M28 is being funded mostly by the EU and will sort that out, dual or DC road ll the way from Belfast to Ringaskiddy then
@Aidan O’Donovan: I think the EU give 10%. Still better than nothing.
@Nick Allen: The large container companies would love a transshipment port like Foynes bantry cork Waterford fast turnaround and no need for the large vessels to enter the congested channel
@Fred Jensen:No such problems at the deep water berth in Ringaskiddy which can take ships the size of the queen mary and very large ocean liners,its the reason they are transferring the busy container service in Tivoli Cork to the deep water berth where those large cargo ships can take huge numbers of containers,all that’s needed is the promised road upgrade to motorway standard to take the hundreds of trucks away from the villages,but that cant begin until the main drainage clean up project is complete in the lower harbour sometime in 2019.
The M20 plan – to build a Cork – Limerick motorway is the most urgently needed of these.
Dublin is too expensive to live and work in for so many people so a viable alternative needs to be developed.
A Dublin is now unaffordable for so many people businesses need elsewhere to locate.
@Colin Morris: With Varadkar, Pascal “Where is Munster” Donohoe and Fitzgerald making the decisions – unlikely that there will be a motorway anytime soon.
@Colin Morris: Improved transport in Dublin has the potential to bring down prices as more of the city becomes accessible.
@John Ryan: Frances Fitzgerald is originally from Croom, so she should understand the importance of that road.
@Chris Mansfield: The people of Croom must be ashamed of the abomination they unleashed
@John Ryan: not to mention Shane ‘there’s an ireland beyond the M50′ Ross
@Fear Uisce: Crikey he’s not from Croom too ??!!
Well, sir, there’s nothin’ on earth like a genuine bona-fide electrified six-car monorail!
Encourage car sharing!!! With the compensation trend that’s happening in this country i wouldn’t trust anybody in my car.
We are 40-50 years behind any major city when it comes to infrastructure in this country. We don’t have to look too far either….they have better regional roads in Northern Ireland than our national roads here in the south. Our government would rather spend our motor tax else where. That says it all….
@Aidan O’Connell:
oh come on, the M1 is a smooth motorway to the border, then it becomes a crater filled moonscape on the Northern side.
@Fred Jensen: beg to differ…overall with the exception of our motorways, our national roads and regional roads are a a disgrace. For what we’re spending on taxes I believe we deserve a lot better
@Aidan O’Connell: They do in their hole have better roads in the north. That’s a myth long out of date.
@Aidan O’Connell: was up north last weekend, crossed the border somewhere in Cavan, once I went past the sign that says the speed limit is in MPH the road was in bits
you go to Asian countries and they have Monorail to the airport, there poor with huge armies , they can build these and still rob the country blind, what are we doing wrong
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: A Monorail you say?
@Dub_Right: yes they make use of whats above us..
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: I hear those things are awfully loud?
@Dub_Right: It glides as softly as a cloud!
@Rui Firmino: Is there a chance the track could bend?
What’s above us is plenty of rain. And gale-force winds. An underground would suit our climate better.
@Dermot Mc Nerney: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Flooding comes to mind!
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: and no pensions and social welfare.
Was in Manchester last week and there is train service from airport to city centre that takes 15 minutes as well as a Metrolink tram line – a new tram route through Manchester City Centre was also built in half the time of luas cross city
@Goldberg: have a look at the Skytrain in Bangkok or the Gautrain in Johannesburg.
Scandalous that Irelands largest airport has no rail link to the city and that Cork and Limerick are connected by a dreadful road. Frances “The New Visionary” FitzGerald should shut up with her imbecilic soundbites and deal with same
@John Ryan: The lack of airport/city centre rail link is dreadful. In the EU – the only other capital city without one is Budapest!
@Fank Pulman:
Dublin Airport is very close the city however, much closer than in other cities. Probably too close as it prevents much needed housing being built in county Dublin. Having said all that i’m in favour of Metro North.
@Fank Pulman: And Helsinki?
@Colin Morris: Helsinki has better rail services to the centre, than most. Google is your friend¡
@Fank Pulman: Bratislava and Luxembourg are two I’ve been to in the last year without a rail connection. Not an excuse, mind.
@Richard: Vatican City too! Bratislava Airport is about 5 miles from the City, Luxembourg about half that.
@Fank Pulman: A taxi from Dublin airport to city centre costs less than the Gatwick Express train
@Lorem Ipsum: Victoria/Gatwick is less than £20 – in under 30 mins.
@Fank Pulman: c30 miles; excellent service
@Fank Pulman: They should build a city centre rail link to Blanchardstown and take some buses off the roads.
Castleknock and Coolmine stations?
Do not extend the DART unless it’s built wheelchair friendly
Engineering Ireland recommend large number of engineering projects. There’s a shock.
Engineers can kiss their collective ass. I’m a civil engineer, with postgrad qualifications in geology and environmental science. I’m sick of ” Engineers Ireland ” trying to promote their overrated golf society as a professional body.
Rant over.
Any questions, ask.
@George Salter: what handicap do you play off?
@George Salter: What do you really think about the Engineering society, the truth now so don’t hold back.
@George Salter: what’s a tracker mortgage?
Rail link to meath & Cavan is badly needed, for the most part the permanent way and old tracks are still there
@Alanearls: capital investment needs to be prioritised and a rail link to Cavan should be considered in maybe 50 or 60 years. No requirement now.
@Alanearls:
Indeed, would take many commuters out of their cars.
@Alanearls: There never was a direct rail link between Dublin and Cavan town. The line from Navan connected to Drogheda.
I would love to see the Dart extended to Skerries
@Rui Firmino: some politician wanted to extend the DART to Dingle back in the 90s.
@P C: Im pretty sure that was Dustin the Turkey!
We have a serious problem. No money was spent on infrastructure in the last 10 years. Now we have to catch up. Metro north is under construction? Or has it just been announced 50 times. The Cork Limerick(Galway) motorway doesn’t even have a preferred route picked. A motorway 15 km further out than the M50 would help.
Forget pumping money into a rip off Dublin. Flood the money down south and west. Cork Docklands and M20 a must.
@Dub_Right: It glides as softly as a cloud….
Sorry for swearing but FFS could you take a look at the North West? Naff all buses; no rail; no motorway. Grrrrrrr….
How many times have we heard this over the years, just go and put this infrastructure
People only travel between Cork and Limerick when they have to because of the road. If we had a Motorway then the Galway Limerick Cork axis would become a counterpoint to Dublin. It would pay for itself many times over.
Must be an election in the wind. These get dusted down and spouted about before & during every election only to be put back on the shelf after voting.
Metro North will be known as The Gravy Train!!
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: Don’t care what they call it, just build it already!
In other news, Pigs Seen Flying Over Ireland
@Dave Murray: what about us brain dead slobs?
have your say