The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (DPER) last week announced significant changes to the national Infrastructure Guidelines aimed at accelerating delivery of large‑scale capital projects. As part of Action 23 of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report, Minister Jack Chambers confirmed that several time‑consuming steps in the approval process for major projects, in excess of €200 million, are being removed - reducing timelines by up to 20 weeks.

Key changes include:

• Removal of the External Assurance Process at Approval Gate 1 for projects over €200m. Instead, DPER will conduct a time‑bound compliance assessment before review by the Major Projects Advisory Group.
• Approval Gate 2 sign‑off will shift from Ministerial to Accounting Officer level, removing a redundant stage. Ministerial approval will still be required at Gates 1 and 3.
• The threshold for “major project” classification will increase from €200m to €500m for major projects in transport, water, and energy.

These reforms are part of Government’s broader agenda, under the Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan, to streamline planning and regulatory consenting processes, and project coordination. This is all being done with the aim of moving critical projects off the page and into construction.

A DPER circular has been issued confirming the updated procedures, which form a key component of Pillar 3 of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report: strengthening system‑wide coordination to reduce fragmentation and speed up delivery. Minister Chambers has also signalled further reforms in the coming weeks, including publication of new Critical Infrastructure legislation to fast‑track nationally important projects through planning and licensing.

For more information, see here.