Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 July 2012
279 Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the time frame for the implementation of the Government’s stimulus plan; the source of funds for the plan; the amount that will be spent this year; the extent to which it will compensate for the cut in this year’s capital budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36797/12]
View answerI announced yesterday, 17 July 2012, the Government's €2¼ billion Infrastructure Stimulus Package which will provide investment in a range of important and much needed new projects. Details in relation to the funding of the package and timeframes for delivery of the projects can be found on my Department's website (www.per.gov.ie).
The Government is already committed to spending €3,962 million in capital investment this year and a total of €17 billion over the next five years. This Exchequer investment package was set out last November in the "Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-2016: Medium Term Exchequer Framework" which outlined the five year Exchequer Capital Framework out to 2016. The Framework was published following a Government-wide review of the public capital programme led by my Department. It sets out a significant programme of Exchequer investment over the next five years, and is designed to address critical infrastructure deficits, aid economic growth and provide much needed social infrastructure.
The package announced yesterday is additional to the investment outlined in the Exchequer Framework and will be largely predicated on using non-Exchequer sources of funding to support the first Phase of a new PPP Programme of projects in key areas of infrastructure. It is envisaged that enabling works on some of the PPP projects announced yesterday will begin in 2013 and these works will be funded from some of the proceeds of the sale of State Assets and the new licensing arrangement for the National Lottery.
