DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ireland will boost spending on infrastructure projects over the next five years by 23%, to 112 billion euros ($131 billion), as it takes advantage of a windfall of multinational tax, including a 14 billion euro Apple back-tax payment.
Ireland has for years failed to use a multinational-driven corporate tax boom to improve creaking energy and water infrastructure and boost housing supply. The International Monetary Fund recently estimated that Ireland's infrastructure lags competitor
economies by around 32%.
"We believe that there's a need to immediately implement a step change in the scale and quality of public investment in critical sectors," Prime Minister Micheal Martin told a news conference on Tuesday.
The government had originally earmarked 91.3 billion euros for capital projects from 2026 to 2030, equivalent to an average of 5% of national income per year. The revised plan will see that ratio growing from 5.35% in 2026 to 6.65% in 2030.
The plan also envisages the scale of capital spending remaining at 6.65%, or 20 billion euros a year, until 2035.
The government has also pledged to slow the pace of recent tax cuts and current spending hikes in its 2026 budget due to U.S. tariff threats. Martin said the government would safeguard the capital budget "as best it can" if economic growth slows.
The government said it would prioritise investing in energy infrastructure, diversifying sources of energy, extending public transport, improving roads and making a "definitive" investment in water services to enable homebuilding.
Ireland's national water utility has warned it will not be able to adequately service a targeted leap in new house building without a large boost to its funding. The government is already behind in its targets to boost much-needed housing supply.
While Tuesday's boost comes on top of recent sharp increases in the capital budget, investment has been growing from a low base, as Ireland's economic crash 15 years ago led to prolonged austerity that brought capital spending to a standstill.
($1 = 0.8550 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Conor Humphries and Tomasz Janowski)
