Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 1 June 2022

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

Mr. Eddie Casey:

Yes, to be frank. We know there is a certain budget and there are so many projects but we do not know all the detail about every single project because it is massive. The capital plan was not that detailed in terms of economics, including specific programmes, their impact on the economy and the like. That speaks to one of the problems we have in general, which is that we do not know what climate initiatives will cost and where the fiscal costs will be.

When we start to see costs rising for each capital project, given the rise in construction and material costs and labour, it will have an impact on when projects can be delivered. It will potentially squeeze out some of the projects that are there but, on the other hand, we have already seen some delays in projects getting off the ground. It is still possible that projects could be delivered but at a later date. Again, this is a complex backdrop to all of this. We could see the projects delivered on a later timeline.

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