Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the capital investment plan of €27 billion over the coming years. The plan is possible thanks to the work the Government has done to get the country back on track. Not many years ago, members of the Opposition were crying that the troika should take away its money. Had we done it, we would have no money today to invest in the plan. For people to sit here and criticise the plan because it does not go far enough, after they wanted to tell the troika to go away with its money, is laughable. The plan involves €5 billion every year for the next six years, which equates to approximately €1,000 for every man woman and child for every year of the life of the plan. It is a significant investment which will create many jobs in various sectors which will improve performance across every sector of Irish society, including education, broadband, housing, health and transport. I will focus on transport in my short contribution.

I welcome many of the schemes that will get the go-ahead, such as the Laytown to Bettystown link road which as a councillor I pushed for many years. I am glad to see it is in the plan. I am also glad to see the commitment to improved North-South links. We are all aware of the importance of the A5 road. It is also important that the Slane bypass is included, given that the N2 is a very important North-South route. The Slane bypass has been proposed for many decades. It almost came to fruition a number of years ago, but did not get through the planning process. I am glad to see there is a commitment to it. It is needed in terms of road safety and congestion in Slane village. Now that the money is there, the council will come forward and push for a new application to be made so this important piece of infrastructure can be put in place as soon as possible.

I am also glad to see the focus in the plan on cost-benefit analysis. It is very important that we get value for money from our €27 billion. In a previous role, I was an investment appraisal manager on capital expenditure schemes, and I know how important it is that we rigorously examine the investment. I am glad to see the new code proposes that appraisals will be carried out on schemes of €20 million in value as opposed to €30 million. I am also glad the Government will be asked to approve any expenditure on schemes over €100 million as opposed to over €250 million. It will give confidence to the many people who are concerned about some of the projects, such as the €2.4 billion metro north scheme.

I am concerned, given that insufficient work has been done on the appraisal of the metro north scheme. The Fingal-North Dublin Transport Study - Stage One Appraisal Study, done in November 2014, ten months ago, states on page 79, "Modelling of passenger demand was not feasible at this preliminary appraisal stage". However, conclusions and choices are made on the basis of a rodentine analysis. While I am very concerned about the analysis to date on metro north, I am glad to see that in this plan there will be continuous analysis of the schemes. I am glad to see the plan states that if schemes further down the road do not satisfy cost-benefit analyses, they will be scrapped and the money will be invested elsewhere. The vital thing is that anything we do with this public money gives a decent return to the Irish taxpayer. If the money is better spent elsewhere, in education, broadband or health, we need to ensure it is targeted at the sectors that give the best value for money. I support the plan. I am particularly glad to see the emphasis on effectiveness of spend and the cost-benefit analysis that will be required for smaller schemes. I have no doubt the investment will lead to many new jobs and improved performance across every sector of society.

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