Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Let me be clear. The Government made decisions back in 2011 in respect of the capital plan to reduce the quantum of money in order to lessen the reduction in current expenditure. For example, rather than taking a further €1.5 billion out of social welfare this year, as Fianna Fáil had planned, the Government took additional money of approximately half a billion euro out of capital funding. The capital projects that were delayed were those major heavy capital projects in the transport area that are not actually job-rich projects. There is a significant difference in the job benefit between such projects and, for example, the €150 million spent on the stimulus plan I announced last week. Projects that will retrofit 25,000 houses across the country or build new schools or repair the county roads, for which there is a €50 million project, are much more beneficial in terms of real jobs now than would be €150 million spent on planning for a project such as the access tunnel to the airport or similar very big infrastructure projects. To answer the Deputy's question in general terms, the Government made rational decisions to protect current expenditure as best it could because the Government did not think the volume of cuts the previous Administration had planned in social welfare and other areas could be taken. Second, the Government is releasing other capital to have jobs-rich projects through the sale of State assets, through further funding the Government is negotiating with the European Investment Bank and other lenders and hopefully through releasing moneys from our own banks, now they are in a more robust position to support PPPs.

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