Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 10 and 40 together.

In 2011, my Department led a Government-wide review of the public capital programme which culminated in the setting of a new investment framework for 2012 to 2016. The framework includes investment of €17 billion across a range of sectors over that five year period. Since then, I have made a number of announcements in relation to additional capital investment, including in July 2012 a €2.25 billion stimulus package, which included a new €1.5 billion public private partnership programme involving projects across the education, roads, health care and justice sectors; in June 2013, a €150 million Exchequer investment in schools, energy efficiency and roads projects; and in budget 2014, along with the €200 million already committed to the national children's hospital, some €200 million from the national lottery licence transaction. Information on these projects was set out in my Department's announcement on budget day.

Activity on the PPP programme is well under way, with seven of the nine stimulus PPP projects already issued to market and the largest project in this phase, the N17-N18 Gort to Tuam road, due to reach contract award shortly. There has been active market engagement from investors and construction contractors, reflecting the growing confidence in the economy. We had great difficulty getting PPPs back on the agenda following the difficulties faced by the economy. Investment in the PPP stimulus package is expected to generate around 13,000 jobs. At this early stage in the process, most of the employment impact has been in the technical and advisory areas and a number of enabling works have also begun. This year, €45 million will be invested from the proceeds of asset sales to meet costs associated with those enabling works. Construction on the N17-N18 project is planned to commence during 2014, with accommodation projects starting before year end.

In relation to the €150 million Exchequer stimulus announced last year, €60 million was invested in 2013 on the roads and energy efficiency projects, with the remainder due to be drawn down by the end of 2015. It is envisaged that around 3,000 jobs will be supported through this investment. Expenditure on national lottery licence funded projects will commence shortly once the transaction has been finalised. I can inform the House that I expect that to happen tomorrow. Due to the wide variety of projects being supported, figures for employment impact are not available now but the types of works involved generally represent areas of high labour intensity.

As I have indicated, a review of the public capital programme will be undertaken this year which will include an examination of the scope for using non-traditional funding sources to further augment capital investment. I am very conscious that we are constrained in terms of the quantum of money that will be available to us. We are spending between €3 billion and €3.5 billion per annum on capital projects. For as long as we can see into the future, we will be constrained financially. We need to be constructive in terms of looking to PPPs and investment from other sources to ensure we get as much infrastructural development and jobs as we can.

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