Taoiseach defends lack of detail in National Development Plan

Tánaiste Simon Harris, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, with Minister of State Seán Canney at National Development Plan launch. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The Government has vowed that the €200bn injection in infrastructure will be protected over day-to-day spending if tariffs cause an economic slowdown.

As Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended the lack of detail in the National Development Plan (NDP), arguing that previous iterations were too long, he said borrowing to deliver the programme is not being ruled out.

Details of how each department intends to spend its money will not be unveiled until October, with Minister of State at the Department of Transport Sean Canney admitting he “doesn’t know what roads are being done”.

The new NDP will see a total investment of €275.4bn in infrastructure over the next decade.

Some €102.4bn will be invested up to 2030, with a further €100bn to 2035.

Much of the investment will go towards housing, with a total allocation of €36bn in the next five years. Some €7.68bn of this will go towards water. This does not include another €4.5bn “equity injections”, which brings the total for housing and water to €40bn.

Some €22.3bn will be spent on transport, with a provision of €2bn for the Dublin Metrolink.

The Metrolink money is part of a ringfenced €10bn “equity funding”, that will also see €3.5bn provided in 2025 to improve the energy grid. The rest will go to water.

The Taoiseach said the Government will remain committed to infrastructure investment and if the financial situation changed, it would be prioritised over day-to-day spending.

“A lot depends on where the cards land and that negotiation [on tariffs] isn't over yet,” Mr Martin said.

“It's a tense negotiation. It's a difficult, challenging negotiation between the European Union and the United States, and it is one that is causing a lot of concern.

“We have factored in as much as we possibly can, various scenarios. But what we're absolutely determined to do, as best we can, is safeguard the capital side of the budget over the next number of years.

“We don't anticipate having to borrow, but we're ruling nothing out.

“But we do need the investment community, and particularly the international investment community, particularly in terms of the Metro project of that scale, they need to realise that we're going full distance on the capital.

“We will take measures if we have to, obviously, to meet the impacts of tariffs. But we are very clearly signalling that, unlike previous times, we want to protect the capital side of the equation.

“Current spending would be under pressure if such a situation [an economic downturn] was to emerge.”

This was echoed by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, who said the “priority” will be maintaining capital investment.

Opposition criticism

The opposition was critical of the lack of detail in the plan, with both Labour’s Conor Sheehan and Sinead Gibney of the Social Democrats suggesting this was the case so that deals with independent TDs during Government formation talks would be kept under wraps.

However, the Taoiseach branded this claim “ridiculous”.

He said: “Sectoral plans will be announced by the ministers close to budget time. We're going to work through them.”

Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said it was “never my intention” to publish a “long list” of projects as part of the NDP.

One of the only specifics from the announcement was the inclusion of an additional €2bn for the Metro.

Labour TD Marie Sherlock claimed the “hype of €100bn” was “punctured with little or no detail”.

“The reality is that this is a catch-up NDP, where the supply of housing and public infrastructure has fallen far behind the growth of our economy and our population,” she said.

Sinn Féin TD Mairead Farrell, who is also chair of the Oireachtas Finance Committee, criticised the fact that the NDP review was just 49 pages.

“With the dust settling on their big announcement, we are still left wondering where all this money is going to go, how they will address the current bottlenecks, and whether ‘value for money’ will just be another political cliché,” she said.