No agreement yet on how proceeds of Apple tax case will be spent

Irish Times

2 days ago

The
Taoiseach
and
Tánaiste
are to hold talks on Saturday in an attempt to break the deadlock on how €20 billion in funding for key projects will be spent over the coming years.
No agreement had been reached on Friday on spending in five key areas – housing, health, transport, education and defence.
Informed sources said nine departments had agreed their funding levels, including justice and energy.
Under the €20 billion revised
National Development Plan
(NDP), to be published on Tuesday, significant additional investment in areas such as housing, water infrastructure, the electricity grid, roads and public transport will be announced. The funding includes proceeds from the
Apple tax
case.
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There is also expected to be a boost to capital funding in the disability sector, which Taoiseach Micheál Martin said would be a priority area for his Government.
However, the amounts sought by Ministers under the revised NDP were multiples of the funding available.
It is unusual for defence spending to be a sticking point in such Government negotiations over budgets, given the low levels of expenditure traditionally in this area.
However, it is understood that Tánaiste Simon Harris, as Minister for Defence, has sought significant change in how the area is treated by the exchequer.
He has said publicly that Ireland needs to boost defence spending and has spoken of moving to a higher level of defence capabilities – based on the findings of the Commission on Defence – including a larger Naval Service and the provision of fighter jets for the Air Corps.
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Sources said there were still issues remaining about funding for new roads. The Department of Transport had, for example, previously advised Ministers that there was a lack of clarity about where money for some projects such as the A5 dual carriageway in Northern Ireland – to which the previous government had committed €600 million – would come from.
It was anticipated that this issue would be resolved in talks on the revised NDP.
The Government's new housing strategy cannot be completed until the scale of funding available under the plan is known.
Funding for key water infrastructure such as the new Dublin drainage scheme and the pipeline to bring water from the Shannon to Dublin is understood to form part of the Department of Housing's proposals, as does the €2 billion scheme to deal with the impact of defective concrete blocks.
Sources said the plan would see the largest investment in the electricity grid in Irish history.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is understood to be pressing for funding for digitalisation of health services including electronic patient records – a project that could cost about €2 billion – as well as new elective hospitals to deal with non-urgent care and more community nursing units.
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The Cabinet is scheduled to formally sign off on the revised NDP on Tuesday.
However, this is expected to involve only the provision of specific budgets to each department. It is not anticipated that particular projects to be funded will be announced on Tuesday. It will be up to Minsters in each area to decide on individual projects based on the level of funding they have available.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers told the Dáil on Thursday that at a point of significant economic uncertainty, the Government was 'clearly setting out that we want to seriously increase our overall investment in critical infrastructure, which will provide the growth, prosperity and jobs for the future'.
'We know that housing, energy, water and transport in particular are areas requiring that additional investment,' he said. 'There are other areas that require the additionality to provide for critical services and social infrastructure across communities in Ireland.'