Speech by the Taoiseach at the Launch of Ireland’s Infrastructure Investment Priorities 2010-2016

Posted on 26/07/10 by Brian Cowen

You are very welcome to the Convention Centre Dublin today, as the Government announces the next phase of the transformation in our country’s infrastructure and a major stimulus for our economy.

I am sure you will agree this is a magnificent building, and a credit to the architect Kevin Roche and all those involved.

It is also a powerful statement about how far we have come and what we can achieve as a people.

Below us, we can see the new Samuel Beckett Bridge – designed by Santiago Calatrava – that has further enhanced the rejuvenated docklands area, along with the new Grand Canal Theatre - also the work of a world-renowned architect, Daniel Liebeskind – and the O2 Arena. We are adjacent to the International Financial Services Centre, another product of the Irish imagination which continues to provide wealth and employment to our people.

The IFSC is now linked to the O2 by the new Luas line, while the city centre is now also accessible by road from all parts of the country via our new motorway system and the Dublin Port Tunnel. To the North lies the great cauldron of Irish sport that is Croke Park, to the south the new Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne road – both built on the greatness of our past, and both fiercely optimistic for our future.

Beyond Croke Park, the new modern Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport will open later this year.

These infrastructural developments were planned and delivered by the government and by the public service, working in partnership with the best that the private sector has to offer.

They have transformed our capital city, and our country, for the better.

They inspire us to move forward - with imagination, with confidence and with determination – to build for the future.

Our over-riding priority now is to drive forward the process of economic recovery.

We have taken the right decisions - the responsible decisions – to address those problems and to lay the foundations for economic recovery.

The Government has taken the three key challenges head-on – reducing the budget deficit, repairing and reforming the banking system and restructuring and renewing our economy.

Today is another important step forward on the path to economic renewal.

Today, the Government is making a statement of confidence in future of the Irish economy and of the Irish people.

We are announcing a massive stimulus for our economy.

We have come through an economic storm without parallel in our history.

But we are continuing to invest in the future – confident that we can bring about a new phase of sustainable growth and job creation.

Over the next seven years we will invest almost €40 billion in economic and social infrastructure.

Proportionately this is one of the highest spends in the European Union, and a major stimulus to the economy as we return to growth.

We will maintain this level of productive investment, while continuing to stabilise our public finances in line with the programme agreed with the European Commission.

This is not the easy option - it is always easier for a government to drastically cut capital spending in the face of a fiscal crisis.

But, as in other areas of public policy, this Government has not taken the easy option.

We have taken the right option.

We have decided to maintain one of the highest levels of capital investment in the OECD.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are not just continuing with previous plans.

We recognise that circumstances are different – priorities have changed, while the resources available are reduced.

That is why we have reviewed all of our capital programmes and identified new priorities and opportunities.

Our review has prioritised investments which will contribute to economic recovery, support employment, deliver important social infrastructure, and assist the transition to a low-carbon economy.

When I launched Building Ireland’s Smart Economy in 2008, I said that we must not just survive the crisis, but restructure our economy to ensure that we are well-placed to benefit from the global recovery.

That logic underlies the revised investment priorities we are announcing today.

This investment programme is all about jobs for our people and a sustainable economic future for our children.

We have identified those areas which will make the greatest contribution to improved competitiveness, to productivity growth and to job creation.

We are focusing on investments which will help create sustainable jobs – by shifting resources to areas which will help Irish companies grow, and attract more foreign investment.

This will allow us implement many of the recommendations of the Innovation Taskforce, including Innovation Fund Ireland and the major investment in our third level research facilities which I announced in recent weeks.

Recognising that our people remain Ireland’s greatest asset, we are investing massively in education and skills.

Along with support for our universities, we will provide 70,000 additional places in our primary schools and 15,000 additional places in our post-primary schools. In the next two years, 730 of those schools will have hyper-fast broadband.

Our children are our future and this will help ensure that they have the skills to create the businesses and do the jobs of the future.

We have acted on the advice of those state agencies – the IDA and Enterprise Ireland - who are tasked with building our export base and attracting international investment.

We have listened carefully to our friends abroad, in the diaspora and in leading international businesses.

That is why we are targeting investment in key aspects of the smart economy such as broadband and renewable energy, as well as transport, research and education.

Based on the investments we are announcing today, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are targeting over 270,000 direct and indirect new jobs in the period to 2016.

As a result of the reprioritisation and the sharp focus on job creation, we will double the share of spending that will go on the enterprise sector over the next seven years.

We have also taken into account the employment-intensity of building different types of physical infrastructure and we estimate that delivery of infrastructure under this Programme will support approximately 30,000 jobs each year.

The investment will be spread right across the country.

Every single part of Ireland will benefit from improved infrastructure, better public service facilities and – crucially – improved prospects for increased investment and job creation.

More than €1.5 billion will be invested in the agri-food, fisheries and forestry sectors. Food Harvest 2020, which I launched last week, sets out how these indigenous sectors can contribute to economic recovery, supported by this capital investment.

There is also a significant increase in funding for flood relief.

To emphasise the need for balanced regional development, the Government has decided to re-establish the Gateways Innovation Fund at a level of €200m from 2012.

This will support our regional development goals, in line with the National Spatial Strategy, which is also being reviewed and refreshed to ensure it is aligned with our current circumstances.

As well as the completion this year of the inter-urban routes serving Cork, Galway, Waterford, Limerick and the border region, there is also significant funding for the Atlantic Road Corridor to further enhance the potential of all of our cities and regions.

And there is flexibility within the programme to respond to emerging needs across the regions, and potentially to further increase investment in the regional road network over the coming years.

Another strong theme of the programme is environmental sustainability and the move to a low carbon economy. We are providing for a major programme of investment in energy efficiency through retrofitting of homes and other buildings – creating up to 10,000 construction-related jobs, while also helping to meet our climate change targets.

And we have made provision for a large investment to upgrade the quality of our water services to the highest standards.

Major social investment programmes – for example in the regeneration of Limerick and Ballymun, primary and secondary schools, health facilities and rural development – will improve the quality of life for people in communities across the country.

Transport remains the single biggest area of investment in this new programme.

The completion of the major inter-urban routes will deliver dramatic reductions in travel time between our main cities and greatly increase the competitiveness of our economy.

Tomorrow, I will formally open the Limerick Tunnel and – jointly with my colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive – the Dublin to Belfast motorway.

As a result of the transformation of our national road system, the focus of investment can now shift increasingly to public transport, as was planned when Transport 21 was launched.

We have made provision for Metro North and the Dart interconnector, with both projects subject to final Government approval following a value-for-money test.

The financial framework which we are publishing today sets out the overall economic and budgetary context, the multi-annual allocation for each sector, the rationale behind our decisions and the new direction for investment that we have decided upon. Many other projects will be delivered between now and 2016.

Individual Ministers will make the detailed decisions on allocationswithin each envelope, while we will remain responsive to new and emerging economic pressures and investment needs.

Over the past decade we have transformed Ireland’s infrastructure.

The investment programme we are announcing today builds on those achievements, while focusing sharply on economic recovery and job creation.

It will deliver many projects of lasting economic, social and environmental value in every part of the country.

It will spur job creation, and help to get local businesses moving again.

It will provide certainty to investors and the business community – at home and abroad – which will help stimulate investment and increase employment.

It will greatly enhance our competitiveness and the productive capacity of our economy.

It is based on a hard-headed and realistic evaluation of our situation.

It is ambitious, appropriate and affordable.

It is exactly the type of stimulus that the economy needs to help rebuild confidence and accelerate economic recovery.

More than anything else, it is a clear statement of confidence and optimism about Ireland's future.