Unions calls for Navan Rail Link to be designated 'Critical Infrastructure' in budget submission

The Meath Council of Trade Unions (MCTU) has called for Critical Infrastructure status for Navan Rail Link and housing projects ahead of tomorrow's budget.

Chairperson John Regan said the council is demanding that these vital projects be fast tracked under a critical infrastructure bill to bypass crippling bureaucratic red tape.

He recalled Minister Darragh O’Brien's announcement in May 2026 that “Navan Rail is happening” and calling the initiative “absolute transformational for commuters and wider Meath region”. The Minister said "that it would become a reality and that money was set aside for this crucial infrastructure. "

"We now know that this government makes sweeping statement with no backup," Mr Regan said.

In their submission to the Minister the MCTU expressed deep frustration over "ongoing legislative bottlenecks and state-level delays that treat Meath’s worsening commuter and housing crises as “Business as usual.”

"Our Trades Council is demanding that these vital projects be fast tracked under critical infrastructure bill to bypass crippling bureaucratic red tape.

The three core pillars of their submission were fast tracking the Navan Rail Link; unlocking worker housing and targeted infrastructure investment.

The council said the designation of the 34km Rail Line to the M3 Parkway as critical infrastructure was the only way to slash planning bottlenecks, protect the project from protracted legal gridlock, and deliver immediate relief to tens of thousands of Meath commuters trapped in daily gridlock.

The council highlighted a direct link between transport deficits and the housing emergency. The zoned residential lands across County Meath are facing development freezes because the existing road network cannot sustain more cars, affordable worker housing can only be unlocked by delivering an electrified rail corridor.

Mr Regan said the council was also calling on the government to move away from temporary tax giveaways and instead aggressively invest windfall state revenues into permanent public transport and sustainable state-built housing.

Moira Leydon MCTU Secretary said: "Our Workers cannot wait until the end of the decade for basic infrastructure. Forcing thousands of Meath residents into unsustainable hours -long daily commutes while stalling the delivery of affordable homes is an economic and social failure. We are demanding that the government grant critical infrastructure status to the Navan Rail link and our county’s housing projects immediately."

The council's submission comes as the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said that the Government must end “gimmicks and giveaways” and deliver a worker’s budget, as part of its pre-Budget submission.

Congress said that recent Budgets have been marked by costly economic interventions that delivered little for workers and the average working family, and only served to undermine public finances.

"With many people still suffering the effects of high inflation and a cost of living crisis, as well as deficits in infrastructure, Government must now invest in the workers that collectively make up the economy.

The union umbrella group is calling for Budget 2027 to be a “worker’s budget”, that includes: double indexation of the income tax system in Budget 2027 to compensate workers the absence of a tax package for PAYE workers in Budget 2026, a €1 increase in the National Minimum Wage from January 2027 to deliver the promised Living Wage for low paid workers, reductions in the cost of using essential public services, including reducing the cost of significant progress on delivering the promised €200 a month childcare, an end to the payment cap freeze on pay-related jobseeker’s benefit and a timeline for introducing the promised pay-related parent’s benefit.

Congress is also calling for a second tier of child benefit for low-income families, in and out of work and increased investment in public transport and green energy infrastructure, including targeted supports during winter where necessary.

The pre-Budget submission also notes that Government needs plan for fiscal sustainability in the years and decades ahead. Recent budget decisions like the cut to VAT for hospitality business owners, and the mooted Budget proposals to cut inheritance tax or capital gains tax, "show a remarkable short-sightedness."

Congress is urging Government to broaden the tax base in line with recommendations from the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. This would include the gradual elimination of CAT business and agriculture reliefs and the introduction of a Site Valuation Tax.

Commenting on the pre-Budget submission, Congress General Secretary Owen Reidy said: "In recent years, time and again the Government has chosen costly short-term giveaways for those who shout the loudest. Workers have seen billions go towards VAT cuts and tax breaks that do little for them and little to secure their future, all while their pay packets have to stretch further and further.

"This Budget is a chance for Government to choose a different path. That means a Budget that broadens the tax base, invests in the ordinary PAYE worker and public services, and ensures Government is doing what it can to support workers’ standard of living.

"We need to see double indexation of the tax system to make up for the failure to index it last year, a meaningful increase in the minimum wage, and real action to reduce child poverty. We need investment in the public services and infrastructure that workers rely on every day, from childcare to public transport to energy.

"If the Government is serious about workers' living standards, and about the long-term health of the public finances, it has to end the gimmicks and give-aways, and invest in the workers that make this country run," he said.