The Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: The Key Questions Everyone Is Asking

We have pulled together the main questions we are being asked, together with our succinct answers, focusing on how the Bill is expected to play out in practice. 

Question 1: What is the Bill trying to do?

At its core, the Bill is designed to speed up the delivery of major infrastructure projects by improving coordination across the public sector and elevating certain projects or programmes as “critical infrastructure”.

Question 2: What types of projects are in scope?

The Bill’s definition of ‘infrastructure’ expressly identifies energy, transport and water as priority sectors. For energy, this expressly includes generation and transmission/distribution systems. 

The Bill introduces a designation process, under which the Minister may bring a proposal to Government to designate a project (or a programme of projects) as “critical infrastructure”. Once designated as critical infrastructure, public bodies involved become subject to the mandatory statutory obligations. In practice, this means that: (1) approvals relating to critical infrastructure must be actively prioritised over non critical work; (2) public bodies must coordinate their decision making to ensure efficiency and avoid fragmentation; and (3) resources must be allocated where necessary to support the progression of the project. 

Question 3: Will flagship National Development Plan (NDP) projects be designated as critical infrastructure?

There is no published list of projects that will be designated, and designation will be made on a case by case basis. That being said, the Government has been clear that the Bill is aimed at projects that are strategic, nationally significant and essential to the delivery of State infrastructure. The language used throughout the Bill closely aligns with the flagship NDP projects. 

Question 4: Does this mean planning and environmental requirements fall away?

No. The Bill does not disapply fundamental planning law requirements or environmental assessment obligations. Critical infrastructure projects will still need to comply with EU environmental law, EIA and AA requirements and will remain open to challenge through the Courts. The Bill is an overlay, rather than a replacement, for the existing consenting framework. 

Question 5: Why are people focused on the climate provisions?

A key point of debate is the Bill’s treatment of section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, which (insofar as practicable) requires public bodies to perform their functions consistently with Ireland’s climate plans. In certain circumstances, the Bill disapplies that duty where those bodies are performing functions to facilitate designated critical infrastructure projects.

While the Bill makes it clear that EU law and wider climate obligations continue to apply, this carve-out has raised immediate questions about legal robustness, particularly given the recent trajectory of climate-related planning litigation in Ireland. Until the interaction between the Bill and existing climate jurisprudence is tested by the Courts, some degree of legal uncertainty is inevitable. 

Question 6: Will designation as a critical infrastructure project speed things up in practice?

This will depend on how the Bill is implemented. While the new statutory duties are welcome, they do not automatically solve:

• capacity constraints within public bodies;
• sequencing issues across consenting regimes; or
• the reality that timeframes are often driven by litigation risk rather than administrative prioritisation.

For developers and funders, designation should be viewed as helpful but not transformational in our view, at least until there is a track record of how the regime operates. 

Conclusion

While the Bill signals strong political support to accelerate energy and other large scale infrastructure projects, it is not a silver bullet. For infrastructure players, the focus should be on (i) understanding whether and when designation is realistically achievable for a project, (ii) stress-testing projects against climate and litigation risk notwithstanding the Bill, and (iii) watching closely how the first designated projects are treated in practice.

For further discussion on the topic covered in this article please reach out to any member of the Energy & Infrastructure team - Chelsey O’Doherty, Seán Scally, Pranav Nanda, Cal Lynn and Ciara O’Keefe.