Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 January 2014
307. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of jobs that were directly created or supported by Government investment in infrastructure during 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4192/14]
View answerMy Department is responsible for setting the overall expenditure allocations for Departments; in doing so, a capital budget of €3.4 billion was set for 2013. A breakdown by Department is available in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2013 which can be found on my Department's website. Decisions in relation to the types of projects and programmes to be funded from the individual Departmental allocations are made by line Ministers and their Departments.
A 2009 survey, carried out by the Department of Finance, found that the labour intensity of capital projects generally falls within the range of 8 to 12 jobs for every €1 million invested. While this estimate for labour intensity is used as a general rule of thumb, it is important to note that the amount of employment generated by capital expenditure depends on how that expenditure is invested. For example, the purchase of new rail rolling stock would typically generate little direct employment in Ireland as such stock is generally produced abroad. Furthermore, different types of public construction project have different levels of labour intensity. For example, smaller scale projects such as school building and repair, or smaller local and regional road-works, tend to be more labour intensive than major national infrastructural projects.
The capital budget for 2013 is part of the larger Exchequer capital Framework for the period 2012 to 2016 of some €17 billion. The focus of the Framework is on infrastructural investment that can aid economic growth, generate sustainable jobs in the medium term, and address urgent social requirements. Much of the capital programme for the five year period of the Framework is geared towards smaller, more labour intensive projects. It is also noteworthy that investment in enterprise supports has the highest direct employment impact. Accordingly, the Framework made a point of protecting supports to the enterprise sector primarily through agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and the IDA.
Since the capital plan was launched in 2011, the Government has been able to announce a number of increases to its infrastructure investment through the introduction of a new PPP pipeline and the use of the proceeds from the State asset and Lottery licence transactions. This additional investment is expected to support significant numbers of jobs across the country. The previous analysis of each sector indicates that the investment in the PPP Pipeline may support in the region of 13,000 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs. In addition to this, it is envisaged that the additional Exchequer funding of €150 million, which I announced in June of last year, can support up to 3,000 jobs. A total of €60m of this additional Exchequer investment was made in 2013.
