Why 2026 will decide Ireland’s digital infrastructure future
- Digital Infrastructure Ireland
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
By Maurice Mortell, Chairperson, Digital Infrastructure Ireland
For Ireland’s digital infrastructure industry, the past few years have been defined by uncertainty. Grid constraints, planning delays, and fragmented decision-making stalled progress. Yet as 2025 closed, we finally saw momentum building
2026 is our chance to reset. Ireland can reclaim its position as a premier destination for global digital infrastructure and continue to strengthen the digital infrastructure ecosystem that designs, builds, and supplies mission-critical infrastructure across Europe and beyond.
This will only happen, however, if we move past short-term fixes and commit to a long-term national digital infrastructure strategy.
Infrastructure reform: A step in the right direction
The Government’s publication of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, alongside the Planning Reform Bill, marks an important shift. Together, they signal an understanding that the way Ireland plans, approves, and delivers critical infrastructure simply isn’t fit for purpose. Both of these reforms aim to create a clearer, faster, and more coordinated approach.
The ambition is welcome. None of this, however, will make a material difference unless the agencies responsible — the CRU, EPA, planning authorities, EirGrid, ESB Networks and others — work in genuine alignment. Today, these bodies still operate too much in silos. The result is delay, inconsistency, and uncertainty across every major project connected to the energy system.
If these reforms are implemented as intended, 2026 could finally bring a more predictable development environment for digital infrastructure. We could see clearer processes and less ambiguity for large capital projects across energy, renewables, and data infrastructure.
But policy reform without operational coherence will not accelerate delivery. Ireland needs a shared understanding of what “critical infrastructure” means in practice and how it should be prioritised. Until that alignment is achieved, reform risks remaining theoretical rather than practical.
The CRU Large Energy User policy paper
The release of the Large Energy User (LEU) policy paper in December finally gives some shape to the operating environment for new connections for data centre operators. After years of uncertainty, we now have a clearer sense of the principles that will govern how large-load projects are assessed.
The LEU framework introduces new expectations around flexible demand, dispatchable power, and on-site generation. It sets out the criteria that will influence whether and how new capacity can be connected to the grid.
The real test will be the way the CRU and system operators interpret and apply these principles in 2026. If implementation is slow, inconsistent or overly cautious, the uncertainty we experienced in recent years will continue under a new name.
The industry doesn’t expect everything to move overnight, but we do need predictability for long-term project planning. For companies making investment decisions measured in decades, not quarters, predictable pathways matter more than perfect policy.
Facing up to Ireland’s energy reality
Ireland’s legally binding 2030 targets were set with the best intentions, but the gap between ambition and reality is now impossible to ignore. Grid infrastructure hasn’t expanded fast enough, renewable deployment is behind schedule, and constraints in Dublin are mirrored across the country.
We have reached a point where hard choices are unavoidable. We can continue delaying decisions to preserve targets we know we cannot meet, or we can accept that timelines must change and invest in the infrastructure required for a sustainable, resilient energy system. That may mean short-term penalties while we build the grid, renewables, and interconnections needed for the next 20–30 years. It will also require a more honest view of what is realistically deliverable.
These are not failures. They are necessary acknowledgements of what must change if Ireland is serious about supporting the next wave of digital and economic growth.
Ireland needs a digital infrastructure strategy
The absence of a national digital infrastructure strategy is now one of Ireland’s biggest competitive risks. Tens of billions in digital infrastructure investment are being deployed across Europe, and an increasing share is going elsewhere. Not because Ireland lacks capability, but because investors cannot commit to a market without clarity on long-term intent.
Without a defined view of how digital infrastructure fits into Ireland’s energy, planning, and industrial strategy, companies are redirecting capital to countries that provide clearer direction. Other nations have already moved. The UK has classified data centres as critical national infrastructure. The Nordics offer predictable, renewable-powered pathways for multi-gigawatt campuses. Germany and the Netherlands are accelerating grid expansion to support AI-era demand.
Ireland doesn’t need to mirror these models, but it must match their clarity. Without a coherent national strategy, Ireland will continue losing high-value, long-term investment to markets with a clearer sense of where they are going.
What is needed in 2026
To restore certainty and attract long-term investment, Ireland needs three things:
A single strategic owner in government. Clear accountability is essential. Today, responsibility is fragmented across multiple departments and agencies.
Consistent, transparent decision-making. With the LEU framework now published, agencies must apply it reliably. Unpredictability remains the biggest barrier to investment.
A realistic capacity roadmap. Ireland must set out how much capacity it can deliver, where it can be delivered, and over what timeline. Most competing markets already provide this clarity.
These are not radical demands. They are foundational requirements for a functioning market.
Ireland has the talent, the track record, and the international reputation to remain a leading location for digital infrastructure. But we are now at a point where incremental change will not be enough. 2026 must be the year we stop treating digital infrastructure as a collection of isolated challenges and start treating it as a strategic national asset.
The opportunity is still in front of us. The question is whether we are prepared to take it.
