THE GOVERNMENT IS set to announce a number of infrastructure projects as part of a €2 billion stimulus package later today.
Projects that are likely to be announced include the Dublin Institute of Technology’s (DIT) campus at Grangegorman in north Dublin, a number of major road projects as well as the construction of primary healthcare facilities and investment in schools.
The €2 billion package is being funded by National Pension Reserve Fund, the future sale of State assets and so-called public-private-partnerships which will be funded from the European Investment Bank.
The government will be aiming to announce projects which they feel will be job-rich given the country’s unemployment rate is now at 14.9 per cent.
The Irish Times reports that the N17/N18 Gort to Tuam scheme in Galway and N11/25 Enniscorthy and New Ross bypasses in Wexford will be announced as part of the spending plans.
The go-ahead for the DIT campus comes just eight months after it was deferred as part of the announcement of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment programme from 2012 to 2016.
Speaking to RTÉ Radio ahead of the cabinet meeting this morning, Education Minister Ruairí Quinn said that it “makes more sense” to build the DIT campus in one place rather than upgrade the 33 different DIT sites around the capital.
Last year the government cut the money being allocated to capital spending by €755 million to €3.9 billion with plans for the Metro North and DART underground transport projects in Dublin shelved as well as the building of a prison at Thornton Hall.
The plans will be outlined in detail at a news conference at 2pm today with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin in attendance.
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