5 takeaways from the revised National Development Plan
But with the billions flying around and the totals growing ever larger in recent days, is this just "hype" as Labour's Marie Sherlock labelled it?
The Government's plan will ultimately be judged on delivery and that will take years.
For now, here are five things we have learned from the big announcement.
Housing
There's no mistaking that the core of this plan is all about delivering homes at scale, with €40 billion earmarked for housing and related water services.
This is made up of €28 billion for housing itself along with further funding to remove blockages like insufficient electricity connections or a lack of water and waste water services.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said today that housing is the biggest social challenge.
But the opposition has reacted sceptically with Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty saying there are no extra social and affordable homes planned.
While Labour has noted that the funding allocated to housing tapers down towards the end of the plan.
Big Picture
This NDP differs from previous versions as it only sketches out in broad terms the capital funding allocations for Departments as well as extra money for utilities.
That means there is no long list of local projects attached to the announcement so no specific roads, local hospitals or schools.
The Government says Departments will now take their allocations and work on specific details.
Expect another announcement ahead of the Budget with Ministers and TDs heralding local projects.
The only big infrastructure project cited is Dublin's Metrolink which will get €2 billion.
Metrolink
Long promised and never delivered, a Metrolink for Dublin has been announced several times over.
But the Government now says it wants the train to leave the station with €2 billion of what is being termed ringfenced strategic funding.
What's clear from comments today is that this is intended to send a signal to potential construction companies that the Irish Government is serious about the project.
It is designed as an assurance that the Metrolink will be paid for and delivered.
The aim is to entice bidders during the procurement phase expected to follow a positive planning decision.
Plan B
During the crash, capital spending was completely slashed and the repercussions of that decision are still being felt today.
Housebuilding stopped, infrastructure projects were dropped and utilities were left underfunded.
This time is different according to the Government. If there is a downturn, capital spending will be prioritised at the expense of day-to-day spending.
And that spells political danger as it could mean real cutbacks to services already dealing with the usual inflationary and demographic pressures.
Inflation
Inflation remains a feature of the economy even if the rate of increase has slowed.
But will the rise of €34 billion deemed "new spending" in this plan over the previous one actually just cover price increases for existing projects rather than delivering new ones?
The Government has denied this is the case. But few would doubt that inflation will eat into the value of the extra money.
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