Dublin Chamber has warned that delays to housing, transport, water, and other infrastructure are weakening Ireland’s competitiveness despite the continuing strength of its economy.
Its Policy Priorities 2026 agenda calls for faster delivery of major projects, stronger air connectivity, greater support for domestic enterprise, investment in skills, and a reduction in regulatory complexity.
The programme will guide the Chamber’s engagement with government ahead of Budget 2027. It argues that Ireland’s ability to attract investment and retain workers increasingly depends on resolving long-standing structural constraints rather than adding further strategic commitments.
Priority projects include the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project, the Greater Dublin Drainage Project, MetroLink, DART+, LUAS extensions, and BusConnects.
Progress towards removing the passenger cap at Dublin Airport has been welcomed, although the Chamber wants similar momentum across a broader range of nationally significant infrastructure.
Housing occupies a central place in the programme because shortages increase labour costs, lengthen commutes, restrict mobility, and make recruitment more difficult. Dublin Chamber has called for at least 30,000 homes a year across the Greater Dublin Area, equivalent to half of the national annual target it supports.
Aebhric McGibney, director of public and international affairs at Dublin Chamber, said: “Dublin’s competitiveness is being constrained by challenges including inadequate infrastructure, a shortage of housing, rising business costs and growing regulatory complexity. Addressing these issues is essential if Ireland is to remain an attractive place to invest, grow a business and create jobs.”
The latest priorities continue the infrastructure agenda presented ahead of the previous Budget process, which combined housing, water, transport, energy, innovation, and enterprise support.
Repeated emphasis on delivery reflects concern that economic growth has outpaced the systems serving it. Population and employment gains have increased demand for homes, transport, electricity, water, wastewater treatment, and public services.
Congestion and housing costs affect company performance even when they do not appear directly in operating accounts. Employees may reject a position, seek higher pay, work remotely from another region, or leave because accommodation and commuting have become unsustainable.
Infrastructure delays can also affect development sequencing and land values. A site may possess planning potential but remain commercially unusable without water, power, transport, or drainage capacity, restricting housing supply and commercial investment at the same time.
The Chamber wants funding prioritised for projects ready to proceed, including DART+ South West and West, LUAS Finglas, and BusConnects. Continued commitments to MetroLink and faster progress on strategic water and drainage schemes are also included.
Budget allocations will not guarantee completion on their own. Major projects require planning, procurement, engineering capacity, regulatory decisions, legal certainty, and coordination between national and local bodies.
Inflation can erode the value of approved funding, while delays extend the period before economic and social benefits appear. Projects that repeatedly return for revised cost approval can crowd out other investment and weaken public confidence.
Regulatory capacity forms part of the delivery question. Oversight bodies and delivery organisations need enough specialist staff to assess proposals, make timely decisions, and reconcile competing requirements. An under-resourced approval process can create bottlenecks even when funding is available.
The Chamber is also pressing for a National Training Voucher Scheme financed through Ireland’s National Training Fund. The proposal would support employer-led development and reskilling, accompanied by measures intended to increase participation by smaller companies in apprenticeships.
Skills policy is closely connected to infrastructure. Construction, engineering, transport, utilities, digitalisation, and public administration all compete for experienced workers. Accelerating several large programmes simultaneously can stretch the same pool of specialists and increase labour costs.
Support for indigenous enterprise forms another part of the agenda. Ireland has benefited substantially from multinational investment, but concentration leaves the economy exposed to international tax, trade, and corporate investment decisions.
Dublin Chamber proposes reducing Capital Gains Tax to 20% for investments in unquoted active companies and improving the research and development tax credit by easing restrictions on outsourced research and simplifying access for smaller organisations.
The objective is to develop domestic companies capable of scaling, exporting, and retaining ownership in Ireland. Tax incentives will have limited effect where organisations cannot recruit employees, find suitable premises, obtain energy connections, or move people and goods efficiently.
McGibney said: “Competitiveness is built on long-term decisions. That means investing in infrastructure, delivering more homes, supporting indigenous enterprise, developing the skills businesses need and reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens. Getting these fundamentals right will strengthen Dublin’s economy and support sustainable growth across Ireland.”
Budget 2027 will provide an early indication of whether fiscal capacity is being converted into projects that can proceed. The Chamber’s priorities concentrate on the availability of homes, transport, utilities, skills, and commercial capacity rather than the volume of new policy commitments.
Ireland retains considerable advantages, including an established multinational base, access to the European single market, a skilled workforce, and strong public finances. Those strengths can be weakened when infrastructure limits expansion and raises the practical cost of living and operating.
Dublin’s next phase of growth will therefore depend on whether the systems beneath the economy can keep pace with the population, investment, and employment they are expected to support.
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