(5 min read)
Ireland faces mounting pressure to deliver critical infrastructure faster, against a backdrop of housing demand, climate targets and economic growth. Yet despite ambitious policy and investment commitments, delivery often stalls. Why? Our comparative analysis of Ireland and Spain, two countries operating under the same EU planning, environmental and procurement framework, reveals that the difference lies less in regulation and more in process, institutional capacity, and legal risk. Spain’s stronger track record reflects long term political consensus, decentralised but embedded expertise, and system wide infrastructure planning tools. As Ireland implements major reforms, including the Planning and Development Act 2024 and proposed Critical Infrastructure Bill, the Spanish experience offers practical lessons on where reform efforts can have the greatest impact.
Why compare Ireland and Spain?
Both Ireland and Spain are subject to the same EU environmental, procurement and planning directives. However, their infrastructure delivery outcomes differ significantly. Spain has delivered large scale transport, energy, water and logistics projects at speed over several decades, while Ireland continues to face delays translating plans into completed infrastructure.
Our analysis examines where those differences arise in practice and not just in law, but in how planning systems operate day to day.
Planning frameworks: consistency versus institutional depth
Ireland operates a highly centralised planning system, with national and regional policy flowing down into legally binding local Development Plans. This approach delivers consistency but can struggle with layered procedures, reinterpretation of policy and legal challenge.
Spain’s system is constitutionally decentralised, with urban planning sitting primarily at regional level. While this creates variation across regions, it embeds planning expertise across multiple layers of government and creates long term institutional memory in delivering infrastructure.
Key takeaway: Ireland benefits from uniformity; Spain benefits from depth and experience built over time.
Infrastructure is planned as a system in Spain
Unlike Ireland, Spain makes frequent use of specialised planning instruments, such as Infrastructure Special Plans, which allow major networks transport, utilities, energy and water to be planned holistically rather than project by project.
These tools help coordinate land use, consenting and investment decisions early, reducing friction once individual projects move into delivery.
Consenting, appeals and legal risk
Ireland’s system places strong emphasis on public participation, appeals, and judicial review. While essential safeguards, these mechanisms frequently extend timelines, particularly for projects requiring Environmental Impact Assessment or Appropriate Assessment.
Spain also applies EU environmental standards rigorously, but delay is more often caused by administrative coordination between authorities rather than litigation. Court challenges are less central to the system overall.
Key distinction: Ireland’s delays are more often legal and procedural; Spain’s are administrative and technical.
Large scale infrastructure: different routes, similar challenges
Ireland relies on specific regimes such as Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) and Railway Orders, centralising decision making in An Coimisiún Pleanála. In practice, these routes have often become prolonged.
Spain does not have a single fast track equivalent. Instead, major projects move forward through a combination of sectoral legislation, special planning instruments and regional or national designation, supported by long standing delivery expertise.
Why outcomes differ
The analysis suggests that Spain’s success is not due to lighter regulation. Instead, it reflects:
- Long term political consensus on infrastructure investment
- Strong administrative and technical capacity
- Effective absorption of EU funding over decades
- A mature domestic infrastructure and construction ecosystem
Ireland’s challenges, by contrast, stem from complex procedures, extensive environmental assessment requirements and sustained levels of legal challenge, rather than lack of ambition.
Ireland is now entering a critical reform phase, with the Planning and Development Act 2024, the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce and the proposed Critical Infrastructure Bill.
