Major projects shelved as €10bn cut from spend

THE Government has slashed over €10 billion from the planned spend on roads, railways, schools and other infrastructure for the next five years.

Major projects such as the Metro North linking Dublin city centre to the airport, the Cork-Limerick motorway and the Thornton Hall prison have been mothballed.

But the Government says the National Children’s Hospital will go ahead and be completed in 2015, although it will be heavily dependent on money raised from the new National Lottery licence.