Dublin isn’t short on ambition. What it lacks is alignment — and the willingness to act on the ambition that already exists.

The solution may lie in an example from Ireland’s own recent past: over 700 kilometres of motorway were delivered in just ten years. How? Not through endless planning — but through partnership. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was the mechanism, but the mindset was what mattered most: collaboration, speed, and shared purpose.

Today, the Dublin Chamber has made it plain. If the capital wants to stay globally competitive in terms of quality of life, transport, housing, sustainability, and mobility, it must move quickly — not in theory, but in execution.

And that’s a direct challenge to the State.

The Chamber is not asking for marginal improvements or cautious reforms. It’s demanding real, visible progress — at city scale — within five years. That level of urgency puts extraordinary pressure on public capital budgets, project timelines, and on governance systems that too often favour process over progress.

For the State to meet this challenge, planning alone won’t cut it. It must be willing to partner.

That means partnering with actors who can move fast. It means engaging with those who bring not just vision, but capability and capital — private capital — ready to be mobilised. It means recognising infrastructure not as a closed sector, but as a platform for innovation, resilience, and long-term national strength.

This is how real delivery happens.

Dublin already has the ambition. It already has the talent and players ready to go. What it doesn’t yet have is a government willing to integrate those actors into the national delivery machine. That’s the missing piece — and that’s the exciting part.

For this vision to materialise, the State must do more than draft strategies. It must partner — or get out of the way.

Partner with those who can deliver. Partner with those who can bring new models of financing. Partner with those who treat infrastructure as nation-building, not bureaucracy.

Because the vision exists. The capability exists. The capital is waiting.

What’s missing is courage. Courage to let go of control. Courage to admit that others can deliver. Courage to act now — before the moment is lost.

It’s time for the State to stop guarding the gate — and start sitting at the table with those who know how to build.

Not next year. Now.