Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Over €800 million will also be invested in programmes through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, a significant increase on the programme signed off by our predecessors, bringing major economic and environmental benefits. It is important to note the agrifood sector's contribution to the economy has been largely resilient.

While there have been calls to continue with a high level of capital investment to give a stimulus to the economy, the need to reduce public expenditure and close the deficit is an inescapable demand on the Government. The Government's medium-term fiscal statement sets the parameters for budgetary policy in the coming years. As a result of this and in the context of setting the overall path of fiscal consolidation, the public capital programme has been scaled back. However, the Government is providing for a level of funding that will not constrain the capacity of the economy to grow. This is the normal benchmark for deciding on the appropriate level of infrastructure investment. Between now and 2016, average public capital spending will remain broadly in line with the European average, despite the tight fiscal constraints.

A wide range of programmes and projects will be funded and €17 billion is still a remarkable amount of money. The areas with an increased share of the overall capital allocation compared with the last capital review in 2010 are education, health and enterprise. This reflects the priorities I set and those set by the Government.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for providing me with extra time.

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