National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland

In addition to this, the quantity of tonnage that is being moved by road continues to grow, responding to population growth, increased consumer demand and a post-Covid economic recovery. The decarbonisation pathway for transport set out in the Climate Action Plan assumes improvements in Ireland’s HGV fleet will reduce carbon emissions by 10% overall by 2030 - primarily through reduced fuel consumption and/ or increased fuel efficiency and use of renewable fuels, rather than a significant penetration of zero emissions trucks before 2030.

the delivery of Project Ireland 2040’s National Strategic Outcomes, particularly those related to enhanced regional accessibility, strengthened rural economies and communities and sustainable mobility. Priority in TII’s Strategy is given to decarbonisation of national road investment through the Department of Transport’s National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland, described hereunder.

National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland

Published in 2023, Ireland’s Road Haulage Strategy 2022 – 2031 sets out the measures needed to deliver on key objectives for the industry, including decarbonisation. Key measures include signing a non-binding commitment to reach a minimum of 30 percent of all new Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle sales (bus and truck) to be zero-emission by 2030, as well as increasing the use of renewable fuels as a transitional measure, made possible by the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation Scheme. Of relevance to this Strategy are measures that explore the potential for operational and digital efficiencies, as well as freight consolidation, road usage charging, and scope for behavioural change through emissions-based taxation of HGVs.

The National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland (NIFTI) is the Department of Transport’s high-level strategic framework for prioritising future investment in the land transport network.

Published in December 2021, NIFTI set out four strategic investment priorities to address transport challenges. These are: decarbonisation; protection and renewal; mobility of people and goods in urban areas; and enhanced regional and rural connectivity.

Accordingly, NIFTI establishes high-level investment priorities to efficiently and effectively address key transport challenges. More specifically, the high-level investment priorities are guided by a modal hierarchy and an intervention hierarchy. Under the Modal Hierarchy Framework, sustainable modes of transport will be prioritised, while acknowledging that the private car will remain an important mode of travel in much of Ireland.

This ‘Moving Together’ Strategy seeks to encompass, and align itself with, the objectives of the haulage strategy. However, the freight and haulage sector presents a variety of specific and complex challenges and opportunities from a demand management perspective. As above, emissions from the freight sector will continue to increase without significant intervention. For this reason, an expert sub-group was established to focus on this area and to develop a set of sector specific recommendations. These are set out in detail in the sub-group report, summarised in Chapter 9 and further reflected in the full suite of recommendations in Chapter 10.

Under the Intervention Hierarchy Framework, NIFTI sets out four high-level categories of investment. These four categories of investment are used to inform intervention decisions, both at the budgetary level and the project level. These four high-level categories are: maintain; optimise; improve; and new. Maintaining the existing transport network is given first priority, followed by maximising the value of the network through optimising its use. Infrastructural investments are only to be considered after these two categories have been assessed as inappropriate for the identified problem, with upgrades to existing infrastructure to be considered before new infrastructure.

National Roads 2040

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) published its strategic vision for roads in 2023. ‘National Roads 2040’ seeks to support an evolving transport system which has safety, innovation and accessibility at its core, and includes over thirty commitments to address issues such as population growth, decarbonisation, climate adaptation, safety and congestion. National roads are key economic enablers and are essential to

The objectives of this Strategy, notably, to increase the efficiency of the existing transport system, are clearly aligned and reinforce the strategic framework provided by NIFTI.