Ireland’s definition of “critical infrastructure” may already be outdated.
Having read the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 and the National Development Plan. One thing stood out.
The Bill defines infrastructure in very traditional terms — transport, energy and water. Telecommunications are not explicitly included. To be fair, the legislation allows flexibility. The Minister can designate additional infrastructure as “critical” where necessary. So telecoms are not excluded ; but, importantly, they’re not recognised either. That distinction matters.
Modern infrastructure no longer operates in silos. Healthcare systems, transport networks, energy grids and public services now depend on digital connectivity — not as an add-on, but as a core operating layer. The National Development Plan acknowledges this indirectly. It notes the strategic opportunity to position Ireland as a European connectivity hub and gateway for transatlantic cables (NDP, p.111). But it stops short of treating telecommunications as foundational infrastructure in its own right. This feels like a legacy gap.
We are building 21st-century systems on a 20th-century definition of infrastructure. The State still thinks in assets. The world now runs on systems. Telecommunications are no longer just another sector. They have become the layer through which all other infrastructure operates.
That has implications not just for investment, but for resilience, security and national planning. If something underpins everything else, it probably deserves to be named as critical. Between the National Development Plan and now the Critical Infrastructure Bill, there have been two opportunities to address this.
As Oscar Wilde once observed: “To lose one may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
An earnest discussion on the criticality of next-generation telecom networks to the national infrastructure feels overdue.