asked the Minister for Finance if the Government have abandoned their commitment to medium-term economic planning, given the widespread speculation on capital spending cuts and the preface to the recent White Paper.
Written Answers. - Medium-term Economic Planning.
380.
Such speculation that there may have been about cuts in capital spending was not justified. The allocation for the 1980 Public Capital Programme comes to £1,154 million and represents an increase of over 15 per cent on the 1979 outturn.
The preface to the recent White Paper "Investment and National Development, 1979-1983" noted that since the paper was finalised, there had been a deterioration in both the international outlook and the domestic situation, particularly in relation to the price and availability of energy. It went on to point out that consequently the prospects for the Irish economy would be adversely affected and the various assumptions and expectations outlined in the paper would need to be reassessed in the light of these developments. This, the preface concluded, would be one of the main tasks of the Government in the coming months.
The recognition in the preface of the changed economic situation suggests neither any dilution of the Government's commitment to planning nor a departure from their underlying approach to developmental needs. Thus, the White Paper stated—paragraph 6.5—that, in the allocation of capital emphasis would be given to meeting the investment needs of manufacturing industry, and the Public Capital Programme has provided for an increase of 21½ per cent in the provision for capital expenditure by the three bodies engaged in industrial promotion—the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited (SFADCo) and Údarás na Gaeltachta. The White Paper also indicated that there would be a shift in the allocation of resources towards infrastructure. The infrastructural provision in the Public Capital Programme includes increases of over 44 per cent for expenditure on energy and over 27 per cent for improving telecommunications.