The Government has announced the details of a flagship plan to build infrastructure over the next five years which will include an overall investment of €112bn.
The revised National Development Plan (NDP) contains funding for housing, energy, water and transport projects from 2026 to 2030.
Around €30bn of that figure is said to be new funding, some of that coming from the Apple tax money and the sale of AIB shares.
The overall funding of €112bn is made up of €102.4bn allocated to departments for 2026 to 2030 as part of Exchequer ceilings within the NDP along with an additional €10bn in equity funding to support the delivery of large projects in the water, energy and transport sectors.
Housing, not including water, will receive an investment of up to €36bn.
Housing delivery is the centrepiece of the plan, with increased funding to build homes and accompanying electricity and water connections.
Transport will receive €24bn, with €2bn of this for Dublin's Metrolink.
Meanwhile, €3.5bn is earmarked for electricity services and the grid going to ESB Networks and Eirgrid.
Some €2bn in equity funding is also being provided to Uisce Éireann in 2025 to enable the delivery of 300,000 additional homes to 2030.
A further €2.5 billion in funding is being provided to Uisce Éireann for large scale projects over the period to 2030.
Largest infrastructure investment in history of State - Taoiseach
Speaking at a press conference at Government buildings, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the plan reflects the Government's "determination that Ireland will meet and overcome the challenges we face".
He said there is a need to "immediately implement a step-change in the scale and quality of public investment in critical sectors".
"By any measure this will represent the largest investment in economic and social infrastructure in the history of the State," he said.
Mr Martin said that "housing remains our most critical priority" and the Government is "determined to keep working to remove barriers standing in the way of building the homes our people need".
He said the private sector will have to take up significant activity in terms of house building.
The Taoiseach added that the Government wants to create a clear and definitive landscape for private sector investment in apartment and house building.
Revised NDP 'to address defining social challenge of our time - housing' - Taoiseach
Also speaking outside Government buildings, Tánaiste Simon Harris said the next challenge was delivering the promises set out in the NDP.
He said delivery had to match the money allocated.
Mr Harris said the plan sets out ambition to create and build a better country for Ireland's people, to transform Ireland and protect the future.
He said the plan was "unprecedented in scale and scope", but it was time to "cut red tape" and "remove self-imposed barriers".
Read more: Inside the Government's €100bn infrastructure plan
Mr Harris said Ireland's competitiveness depends heavily on the investment given today to address infrastructural deficits.
"Today is really a significant moment in this Government's overall response to the uncertain world we inhabit," he said.
He said this must be underpinned by two main principals were protect our economy and build for our future.
Watch: Revised NDP 'unprecedented in scale and scope' - Harris
NDP 'vague' and seeks to 'bamboozle' - Soc Dems
Responding to the plan, Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan said the revised NDP is "so vague it doesn't even rise to the level of wish list".
Mr O'Callaghan said the pledges from the Taoiseach that the plan would reform the country "ring hollow" as they are, according to the Social Democrats TD, a "carbon copy of assurances that were made in 2021".
"The last government committed to transforming our housing and infrastructure during its term. Instead, housing delivery has stalled; our energy and water infrastructure is crumbling and no large public transport projects have been delivered," he said.
"Nothing in this document inspires any confidence that anything will be different this time," Mr O'Callaghan added.
Meanwhile, Green Party's leader Roderic O'Gorman said that the Government is "abandoning the critical schemes that will help us reduce our emissions, like energy innovation, offshore wind and building retrofit."
"It is doing this to address the chronic historic underspend on basic infrastructure that other countries are decades ahead of us on," he said.
"They cannot call this forward planning."
Labour's Climate and Transport spokesperson said the funding for MetroLink signals a lack of Government commitment to public transport.
Ciarán Ahern accused ministers of dragging their feet on public transport.
He said the €2 billion allocated to MetroLink "does not represent the scale or urgency required to deliver the long-awaited rail project for Dublin."
Govt planning for population of over 6 million by 2040
The Government said the need for significant capital expenditure in Ireland under the NDP is due to a range of underlying factors - population growth and demographic change; regional balanced development; climate and competitiveness.
It noted that overall, population growth in Ireland has been very strong in recent years, noting a decreasing young population and increases in the working age population and those over 65.
These trends are expected to continue in the medium to long term.
Based on the CSO's most recent population projections, the population is projected to increase to between 5.60 and 5.76 million with continuing changes in demographic trends, similar to recent years.
By 2040, the CSO projects a population between 5.75 and 6.30 million people.
As part of the revised National Planning Framework, a 2040 population of 6.1 million people is being planned for, an additional 250,000 people over that planned for in 2018 when the NPF was first launched.
Regional development
Under the NPF, Ireland is divided into three regions - Northern and Western, Southern and Eastern and Midlands.
The Government noted that Dublin, and to a lesser extent the wider Eastern and Midlands area, has typically seen greater levels of growth in population, jobs and homes compared to the other regions.
To address this and ensure balanced development between regions, the Government is now aiming for a 50:50 distribution of future growth between the Eastern and Midland region, and the Southern and Northern and Western regions combined.
It is also targeting compact growth with a similar 50:50 distribution between the country's five cities - Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford - and the rest of the country.
Climate
The Government said that all departments and offices have been required to subject all projects proposed for funding under the NDP to a climate and environmental assessment.
This provides an ongoing opportunity for policy holders to consider how projects are prioritised and how their proposals will play a role in meeting these demands.
Competitiveness
By significantly increasing the level of infrastructure investment and aligning the prioritisation of capital spending with NDP's core focus on housing delivery and economic competitiveness, the Government said it will have taken important steps to help protect the future security of the economy.
The Government has said the number of people employed in the construction sector will need to grow in order for it to meet the objectives outlined in the National Development Plan.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has previously estimated that employment in construction would have to increase by almost 80,000 to meet current infrastructure targets, including housing and retrofit.
"With the additional funding now allocated as part of this updated NDP, there will be a further increase in demand for construction workers to deliver the expanded pipeline of projects," the Government said.
The Government also highlighted the importance of digital adoption and innovation to driving future productivity within the construction sector to help meet national infrastructure targets.
