Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The investment fund is one arm of capital investment but it is not by any stretch of the imagination the only one. The key issue on which Government policy is determined in making decisions is not on the basis of political priorities. It is on the basis of what will make the economy more competitive in the long run and what are the key things we need to do, from an infrastructural perspective, which will help a stronger recovery happen. Where this is located is secondary to the principal priority of making the economy more competitive.

The point must be made that if we get this decision right it will help economic growth in the long term. In the same way one could argue the roads projects over the course of the past decade have greatly helped access and transport routes throughout the country. Of course the Government is minded to take a holistic view when it comes to the economy and especially how these funding decisions are to be taken, but to present this as the only vehicle upon which capital infrastructure will be determined is a gross distortion of the facts, notwithstanding the need to have balanced regional development where it makes sense, where the economies of scale are right and where the economy can grow as a consequence of that spending decision.

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