Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 32: To ask the Minister for Finance if he has assessed the make up of uncommitted capital spending in 2009 and the impact on jobs in the construction sector if this spending was postponed. [12526/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Information is not collated centrally on a routine basis on the number of direct and indirect jobs that would be created as a result of Exchequer capital investment.

However, my Department has recently completed an exercise on the labour intensity of infrastructure investment more broadly. This exercise found that, with a few exceptions, the labour intensity of capital projects falls within a range of 8-12 direct jobs created per €1 million expenditure. It also found that "minor" works tend to be more labour intensive in terms of direct jobs created than major new build projects. Both of these findings would be broadly supported by the academic studies that were consulted as part of the exercise conducted by my Department.

Of course, as well as taking account of the impact on employment, any decisions in relation to capital investment will also consider the extent to which that investment enhances the productive capacity of the economy and generates economic returns over the longer term.

The Government recently announced its intention to examine all current and capital expenditure as part of its decision to introduce further measures to stabilise the public finances. All decisions on funding will be taken in the course of these deliberations and will be announced on 7 April.