Taking Improvements for Granted

Although we constantly are beset by negative stories about our inability to deliver anything in Ireland and the pace at which projects proceed is frustratingly slow, we have perhaps become a bit complacent about the expectation that things are always guaranteed to improve. Has the transformation of Ireland since 2000 made us complacent?

Over the first quarter of this century, we have completed the motorway network linking Dublin with the border (2007), Cork (2009), Galway (2009) Limerick (2010) and Waterford (2010) as well as completing the M50 (2005) and Port Tunnel (2006). It’s not just roads; the LUAS shook up Dublin’s public transport system in 2004 and new Airport Terminals were built in Dublin (2010) and Cork (2006).

In Sport and Culture, Lansdowne Road was redeveloped into the Aviva Stadium (2010), Sports Campus Ireland (2019-2025) arrived in northwest Dublin whilst Croke Park became one of the biggest stadiums in Europe (2005). The redeveloped Point Depot opened in 2008 whilst the Bord Gais Theatre followed in 2010.

From a property perspective, progress has also been astonishing. It is hard to believe that 40% of Ireland’s current housing stock has been added since 2000, just under 900,000 homes. In retail, Pavilions (2000) and Dundrum TC (2005) top and tailed Dublin’s retail market North and South whilst Mahon Point in Cork (2005) and Kildare Village (2006) were just two of the dozens of additions to the retail landscape nationally. In offices, over half of Dublin’s current stock of offices, almost 500 buildings totalling over 25m sq. ft. didn’t exist in 2000 and nobody had even heard of a data centre or Amazon distribution hub.

All of this was achieved over 25 years which included a global financial meltdown, the collapse of the banking system, an IMF bailout, a worldwide pandemic and a European war.

This astounding improvement in our built environment and infrastructure has perhaps made us a bit blasé and assume that everything is pre-destined to improve on a constant basis. Very few other countries in the world can lay claim to such as a track record of improvement. It is hard to imagine living in an Ireland in 2025 without all that the last 25 years has delivered.

 

Author:              Neil Bannon, Executive Chairman, Bannon

Date:                  24th June 2025