The cabinet met this morning to sign off on the revised €200bn National Development Plan, which is to be announced with the Summer Economic Statement on Tuesday.
Jack Chambers, the minister for public expenditure, has said the plan will comprise of €100bn in spending from 2026 to 2030, along with the promise of another €100bn to be deployed in the following five years.
Under the revised plan, there will be additional funding to address shortfalls in housing, transport, energy and water, and Tánaiste Simon Harris has said there will be a step change in infrastructure investment.
"I think it's important that people are aware that the backdrop against which the Summer Economic Statement will be published this year will be very, very different from previous years," said Harris.
"We are endeavouring to put together a set of economic projections at a time of huge global uncertainty.
"So, it is going to be necessary to be prudent in the figures we publish and to make decisions in the weeks and months ahead that have a real focus on protecting jobs and investment and keeping our country safe during what could be an economically turbulent period ahead."
Up to €30bn in new funding is being added to the National Development Plan, bringing the total amount to be spent on long-term projects to around €100bn.
The €30bn in additional funding is up from the €20bn that had previously been mooted, and Chambers said the extra €10bn is being set aside for "specific strategic investment" between now and 2030.
That €10bn will be "ring-fenced" for investment in the electricity grid, water infrastructure and projects such as the Dublin Metrolink, which awaits a final planning decision.
"What we’re trying to do is, in parallel to awaiting a final [planning] decision, is to set out a longer-term profile to support the delivery of that project," Chambers told RTÉ Radio's This Week on Sunday. “We want to see that accelerated.”
Speaking on Sunday, Chambers said the NDP is “a commitment over the medium to long term to €200bn of capital investment which will really help bridge the infrastructure deficit we have in the Irish economy that’s providing a constraint right now to critical areas which we need to address”.
The additional €30bn investment for housing, energy, transport and water infrastructure has been partly funded by the €14bn in back taxes that Apple was compelled by the EU to pay the state and proceeds from the sale of shares in AIB.
Other major investments include the Greater Dublin Drainage Scheme. Uisce Éireann has said it requires a further €2bn for the scheme and other projects on top of the €10bn that has already been allocated.
Regarding transport, Chambers said the government would no longer be "governed" by the 2:1 split favouring investment in public transport over roads that the Green Party negotiated when in power.
Chambers said the revised NDP would still contain a "major uplift" in commitments to public transport, road projects and active travel," but he would not be drawn on whether those road projects would be located in the constituencies of independent TDs who are supporting the government.
Minister of State Seán Canney, who represents the Regional Independents in government, told Morning Ireland on Monday that the "broad figures" will be announced tomorrow and that each department will publish an implementation plan at a later date.
Canney also stressed that the plans announced are "functional" rather than "award-winning," and "especially in housing and in hospital infrastructure".
“I think most people would like to have a home that’s comfortable and functional rather than have an award-winning housing estate from an architectural and aesthetic point of view," he continued.
“So that’s that’s the key message in this National Development Plan, is that we’re here to make sure that whilst we’re putting more money in, we want to see more coming out at the other end, and want to see it coming out quickly.”
Photo: Jack Chambers. (Pic: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie)
