Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The capital expenditure that we have embarked on will have a number of second round effects within the economy because it will act as a multiplier and a boost as investment increases. We did not build those second round impacts into our forecast in a significant way because they are difficult to forecast.

One of the increasing challenges that we are facing from an investment point of view, and one that is changing even more quickly than I had anticipated, is the growing number of large capital projects that we are competing with the private sector to make happen. Even in 2018, there was an acceleration in the number of large projects that the private sector wanted to deliver. This is something that, as we move through 2019 and become clear on where we stand with Brexit, will have to be a factor in our capital project decisions in 2019 and 2020. The growing feedback that I have been given is that, for example, the electrical engineers whom we need to be involved in building our primary care centres and national children's hospital are the same ones for whom there is a growing demand in the building of data centres and other new facilities.

Given that development, I will flag an issue that we are reflecting on currently, namely, the question of whether we need to move the decision point for finally saying "Yes" to projects above a certain level to later in the process. We are seeing a greater degree of change in tender pricing and credible estimates than would have been expected. While that is happening for good reasons, it is having an impact on the public finances, for which I am responsible.