Lack of ambition on capital spending is a missed opportunity

The famous philosopher and occasional football manager Roy Keane famously once said “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”.

The phrase came to my mind when looking at the details of the Irish Government’s capital investment plan Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021.

The plan, announced with great fanfare by hard-hat wearing government ministers in September, set out the future key investments in transport, education, health and enterprise.