5.9 | Conclusion

5.9 | Conclusion

Future transport investment will be assessed for its alignment with NIFTI. The CAF is in the process of being updated in parallel with NIFTI to ensure that the Investment Priorities and Hierarchies, and by extension the NPF and NSOs more widely, are embedded at the level of individual projects.

At the Strategic Assessment Stage of the project lifecycle, sponsoring agencies will have to demonstrate how their scheme aligns with NIFTI to advance to the Preliminary Business Case stage, and this analysis will be subject to ongoing updating and refinement as the project progresses. Furthermore, through the future development of our sectoral appraisal guidance, sponsoring agencies will be required to consider the spatial implications of transport proposals, how investment is sequenced, and to develop mitigation strategies for potential negative impacts of a project against the NIFTI Investment Priorities as appropriate. Strategic Assessment Reports will also be a key input into long-term capital planning, helping decision-makers prioritise across potential investments at an early stage.

6 Assessing Environmental Impact

National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland | Assessing Environmental Impact

Assessing Environmental Impact

Several environmental assessments have been conducted in support of NIFTI to identify the potential environmental impacts of future investment made in accordance with the framework. We will ensure that future proposed transport projects take account of the environmental issues identified through our updated sectoral appraisal guidance, and we will monitor the impacts of NIFTI on the environment over time.