Ireland has committed €275 billion to infrastructure by 2035. Globally, 9 out of 10 major projects fail to deliver on plan, scope, or budget. What goes wrong, and can Ireland beat the odds using AI, digitisation and know-how?
In Part 1 of this special two-part podcast series, host Maeve Kneafsey speaks with Stephen Bradley, lead author of Accenture's research into Ireland's infrastructure delivery challenges, and João Silva, Accenture’s managing director of capital projects.
What you can take from this episode:
🔹 How do you map your project's interfaces: A UK rail electrification project's cost grew tenfold after a value-engineering decision wasn't properly assessed against its knock-on effects — a decision that should have taken a day instead played out over a decade.
🔹 How to face the skills gap honestly: Delivering Ireland's National Development Plan at current productivity would need roughly 100,000 additional construction practitioners — equivalent to two years of all net migration into the country.
🔹 Why you need to rethink procurement before you launch: Moving from a \"passive buyer\" to an \"engaged system orchestrator\" means defining your data standards before contractors are appointed, not after.
🔹 How to watch for over-engineering: It often reflects genuine caution around safety on novel assets — understanding why it happens is the first step to managing it.
🔹 Why you should communicate progress early and often: Projects that published clear timelines and used digital twins to show the public visible progress built trust that made delivery easier, not harder.
Part 2 goes deeper on exactly how AI and digital tools can change infrastructure delivery in practice.
🎧 Transform Gov is part of the Ireland eGovernment Awards, brought to you in partnership with Accenture.
📅 The Ireland eGovernment Awards and Leadership Summit take place 24 September at O'Reilly Hall, UCD. Find out more at digitalgovawards.com
#TransformGov #Infrastructure #PublicSector #AI #DigitalTransformation
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