Minister Donohoe launches public consultation on the Mid-Term Capital Review

31st March, 2017

Longer term plan and additional resources will give greater certainty for the future

 

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, T.D., has today (Friday) launched a public consultation on the Mid-Term Capital Review.

 

The Capital Plan, which was published in 2015, set out a six year framework for substantial infrastructural investment in Ireland out to 2021. Since then, the Government has committed additional resources to our capital programme, with a longer timeframe being set out to plan for infrastructural needs into the future. The mid-term review is designed to take stock of our national infrastructure priorities now and in the future and to allocate further resources so that they best meet our social and economic needs.

 

The Minister said: ‘This is an important opportunity for everyone to reflect on our national priorities for infrastructural development. Our original plan was to invest €42 billion across all sectors, including €27 billion in Exchequer funding. The Government has added over €5 billion to this, including our commitment of €2.2 billion for housing. These are substantial resources, which will continue to be directed to achieving real social and economic progress and help us to better meet the challenges and opportunities associated with Brexit that may lie ahead in the years to come.

 

“The substantial progress made in securing sustained economic growth and the further strengthening of the public finances has enabled the Government to commit an additional €5.14 billion in Exchequer capital funding in support of the Capital Plan. €2.2 billion of this amount has already been pre-committed to support the Government’s Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness, while Budget 2017 saw the allocation of additional capital funding for 2017, which has carry-over implications for 2018 and 2019. This means that €2.65 billion now remains to be allocated on the basis of the outcome of the mid-term review.  

 

“The objective of the public consultation is to ascertain the views of the public and key stakeholders on what our national infrastructure priorities should be, when deciding on how remaining resources should be allocated. It is also designed to seek views on infrastructure investment priorities beyond the period of the current Capital Plan, which will help formulate a longer term Capital Plan for the next 10 years.”

 

Submissions will be accepted up until close of business on 30th April 2017, and may be published on the Department’s website.

 

For further details on the Capital Review and how to submit proposals, please click here.

 

ENDS