Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien secured Cabinet approval for the NDP Sectoral Investment Plan for Transport 2026-2030 on 26 November 2025, committing 24.3 billion euros to road, rail, active travel and regional transport infrastructure. The plan is the largest transport-sector capital commitment in the history of the State, allocating 22.3 billion euros in NDP capital alongside two billion euros from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund for MetroLink. For engineering companies and the engineering industry across civil, structural and infrastructure engineering disciplines, the Sectoral Plan establishes the most clearly defined and fully funded transport engineering pipeline Ireland has produced.

The roads allocation represents a programme of historic scale. Approximately 9.7 billion euros is committed to road networks and road safety, rising from 1.6 billion euros per year in 2026 and 2027 to 2.7 billion euros by 2030. Every national road project above 200 million euros is expected to reach construction or main procurement by 2030, giving engineering companies advance visibility of project timelines. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, as approving authority for national road projects, is the principal client for engineering design, environmental assessment and procurement work the roads allocation will generate. Civil engineering ireland firms with capability in pavement engineering, geotechnical engineering, bridge and structures design, and drainage engineering are positioned across the value chain of the national road programme.

The public transport allocation of 10.1 billion euros creates a complementary engineering projects pipeline. MetroLink, DART+ and BusConnects across five Irish cities carry substantial electrical engineering, structural engineering and civil engineering ireland design requirements extending from planning to systems integration and commissioning. The 1.8 billion euro active travel allocation, funding 1,000 kilometres of new and upgraded walking and cycling infrastructure by 2030, represents a sustained engineering design and project delivery workload. Active travel infrastructure engineering, covering segregated cycling routes, pedestrian priority schemes and bridge crossings, draws on the same civil and structural engineering disciplines as the road programme.

Sustainable engineering is embedded in the Sectoral Plan across every transport mode. The plan targets halving road deaths and serious injuries by 2030, an engineering objective requiring engineering design innovation in road geometry, junction layout, barrier systems and pavement surfaces. Engineering technology capability in intelligent transport systems, traffic monitoring and bridge health monitoring is a specification requirement for infrastructure engineering projects. Engineering excellence in sustainable drainage, low-carbon materials and embodied carbon assessment is embedded in planning and procurement requirements. The plan’s commitment to renewable energy-linked EV charging adds an electrical engineering and sustainable engineering workload.

Three project delivery priorities follow. Civil engineering companies need programme management capability at the scale the concurrent delivery of road, rail and active travel projects demands, including manufacturing of precast structural components across simultaneous bridge projects. Structural engineering and geotechnical firms need to engage early with Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s project pipeline, since design and consent work for post-2027 projects is under procurement. Engineering companies with engineering technology capability in transport systems and smart infrastructure are positioned across the lifecycle of projects integrating digital systems from design to management.