McCreevy hints of delays in spending on roads worry business and regions

Representatives of business and regional development organisations have expressed dismay at the suggestion by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, that spending on roads and public transport in the National Development Plan may be postponed.

The comments came just a month after the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, assured a conference of engineers in Killarney that there would be no cuts in the £17 billion figure which he said the Government was committed to spend on infrastructure under the plan, "regardless of economic out-turn".

But according to Mr McCreevy, the State may not now have enough money to carry out some of the expensive infrastructural aspects of the seven-year plan on time.

Speaking on RT╔ radio on Sunday, the Minister was not specific about where any cuts or postponements would occur. It was, he said, his goal to ensure high-cost spending plans for roads and public transport would proceed on time, but he warned that in the current economic climate it was "uncertain".

The Department of Finance said yesterday that the Minister would be more specific when he holds a press conference on Thursday on capital spending in the forthcoming Budget.

However, the Minister's comments have caused concern among representatives of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC), as well as the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, development agencies such as the Council of the West, and local authority members in the regions.

Mr Reg McCabe, the director of transport for IBEC, said the organisation was "extremely concerned" about the effects of the Minister's remarks on inward investment. Mr McCabe said the international financial community had Ireland "marked down" as a bad place to do business because of poor road access.

IBEC viewed with concern the signals sent to the international community - particularly those international firms concerned with public-private partnerships - "that the political will might fail". Mr McCabe said the Minister's comments were quite disruptive.

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland chief executive, Mr John Dunne, pointed out the Government had "said the National Development Plan was our salvation and would be delivered within a tight time-frame. Now they are saying that they can't deliver but that we shouldn't worry as it isn't really that important".

Mr Dunne referred to an Economic and Social Research Institute report which, he said, argued that infrastructure offered the best possible return for Government investment at present. The Minister's comments appeared to be an admission "not just of failure, but of error".

The comments have also prompted a letter to the Minister from the Council of the West appealing to him not to cut back on investment in infrastructure in the region.

The acting chairman of the council, Mr Sean Hannick, also quoted the ESRI as well as the Industrial Development Agency and the National Spatial Strategy which, he said, had all spoken of the importance of infrastructural spending in the regions outside Dublin.

Independent politician Ms Marian Harkin, who is a former chairwoman of the Council of the West, said the implications for the regions outside Dublin were very severe. She said the Fianna Fβil TD, Mr John Ellis, had promised that the upgrading of the N4 primary route would be included in the development plan at the interim assessment stage in 2003. "But the chances of this happening are now almost negligible".