Date: 23rd November 2026

Time: 8:30am – 1:10pm

Location: Online

This conference will examine next steps for the transport sector in Ireland. Areas for discussion include infrastructure investment and delivery, public transport and sustainable mobility, regional and cross-border connectivity, active travel and road safety, and decarbonisation and climate resilience.

It will bring stakeholders and policymakers together to discuss practicalities for delivery as the first year of a five-year investment programme gets under way, following €24.3bn committed to transport for 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan Review 2025 and Sectoral Investment Plan for Transport. Sessions will assess how projects are sequenced within a fixed envelope, alongside capacity across the sector, including skills and supply chain constraints, and the impact of cost inflation on project scope. Delegates will also consider what the Budget 2026 settlement supports in service terms, including concerns from some that the Public Service Obligation allocation largely sustains existing services rather than funding new ones.

As the Critical Infrastructure Act 2026 moves into operation – with MetroLink, the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme and the Galway City Ring Road among the first projects designated in July – sessions will consider implications of designation for decision-making and delivery within existing consenting arrangements, the criteria informing further designation orders expected later this year, and how projects outside the designated cohort are affected by pressures on regulatory capacity. Application of the Act’s modified climate duties will also be examined – with transport having exceeded its first sectoral emissions ceiling and projected to exceed the second – alongside proposals for judicial review reform.