The MacGill Summer school 2025 took place from 17th to 19th July 2025. The MacGill Summer School, in association with University of Notre Dame, is Ireland’s international forum for thought leaders to discuss the critical issues facing Ireland, Europe and the world. This year it was supported for the first time by the Irish Academy of Engineering.
It was founded by Dr. Joe Mulholland over forty years ago in the small town of Glenties in County Donegal and has grown from very modest beginnings to being one of the most important fora in Ireland for the analysis of topics of national and international interest.
Academy President Sean Finlay took part in a Panel to discuss Ireland’s Business Model 2.0 in the context of this year’s Theme – “A Fractured World”. Central to Ireland’s continuing economic success is the provision of critical infrastructure.
There is a widespread recognition that barriers to the delivery of infrastructure must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Proposed measures to address barriers to delivery were outlined in June 2025 by IAE in a Response to a consultation by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (DEPR). The IAE response on the three high level solutions sought by DEPR were as follows;
- Provide multi-annual funding for water and energy for housing and additional ring- fenced funding for water. To Increase capacity to c. 50,000 housing units/year will require an additional ring-fenced investment of the order of €2 Bn. This includes €1.7 Bn. for high density housing in Cities and large towns to maximise the number of housing units coupled with €300 m. to support small schemes in rural towns and villages. Multi Annual funding for key programmes such as housing should be ring fenced to those areas with high density housing with specific ring- fenced funds for smaller rural development and must be additional to existing programme funding.
- Prepare a new Housing Infrastructure Statutory Instrument (SI) for water and energy connections.
- Prepare and deliver a national electricity infrastructure masterplan. Government should bypass the administrative bureaucracy it has created in the energy and electricity sectors and directly ask EirGrid and ESB to prepare and deliver the national electricity infrastructure masterplan. Importantly, this would not preclude private sector investment as individual projects could be delivered by way of concession contracts.
In the context of the review of the National Development Plan currently underway, our Academy believes that the focus should be on a number of programmes and projects that can be realised in the short to medium term and which are pivotal to enabling more ambitious objectives. Many of these projects will enable urban housing and industrial development.
Photo from left; Martina Lawless (ESRI) ; Seamus Coffey (IFAC) ; Sarah Carey (Journalist and Host); Danny McCoy (IBEC) and Sean Finlay (IAE)
Sean Finlay urged the State to target five or six ‘crucial’ infrastructure projects . This was reported by the Irish Times on 17th July 2025 and Sean was also interviewed on the Newstalk breakfast show on 18th July 2025.
In answering the panel question “What is the One Big Idea – What SHOULD Ireland do? Sean replied “Ireland is now in a unique position where Government and the people agree that housing is essential to support the common good and delivery of housing and the supporting infrastructure is essential. Ireland now has commercial semi -State companies TII/Eirgrid/Uisce Éireann which have the capacity/knowledge and experience to deliver these game changing projects; provide them with the multi annual financial and political support to deliver.
Throughout Europe there is wide acceptance that the common good should prevail. Our Constitution seeks to promote the common good and strong political support for game changing common good projects to ensure we continue to deliver the aspirations of our people”.
Additional details are available on the Press Release issued by the Academy