The Irish government has unveiled plans to pour a record €165bn into various infrastructure projects by 2030, as part of its new national development plan (NDP) published on October 4.

The new NDP increases planned investment by 42% compared with the existing plan, including investments into roads, train connections, education and housing.

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Ireland’s prime minister, Michael Martin, said that the plan was “unprecedented in scale”, adding that “it will drive the next phase of our post-pandemic recovery [and will] deliver growth that is regionally balanced”.

It is estimated that the NDP will create an annual average of approximately 47,000 direct jobs and 33,000 indirect construction jobs until 2030. 

The NDP includes €3.5bn for collaborative cross-border projects for the ‘Shared Island’ fund, aimed to promote cooperation with Northern Ireland and the future needs of the island as a whole. The population of the whole island is set to grow by more than one million over the next 20 years.