Minister for Public Expenditure Pascal Donohoe will decide in September which major capital projects will be added to the National Infrastructure Plan.
Mr Donohoe announced on Friday a short public consultation process asking for submissions on an additional €2.65 billion in funds which has been allocated for new capital projects. The projects chosen will be announced in Budget 2018.
The money forms part of an extra €5 billion in capital spending announced by the Government last year. More than €2.2 billion of that sum has already been earmarked for housing, under plans announced by Minister for Housing Simon Coveney.
Mr Donohoe would not be drawn yesterday on his own views on what should be prioritised. His spokeswoman said they would await to assess the submissions received over the next month before reaching any decision.
However, in an interview with The Irish Times before Christmas, Mr Donohoe said his view was that resources should be primarily geared towards transport.
“High-capacity public transport solutions in the coming years will be of the most critical importance,” he said at the time.
“There are two issues if we can’t do it. The friction between a growing economy and poor infrastructure will become very evident. [Secondly] there are new requirements [on greenhouse gas emissions] set down by the Paris Agreement post 2020 [that Ireland will fail to meet].”
In the interview, Mr Donohoe said the Luas extension (due to begin operation later this year) will deliver an additional 10 million journeys on public transport each year. He also said that such big solutions would be required several times over.
“The challenge is how to replicate that on other high-capacity modes and transport,” he said.
Among the new proposals which have been considered are Metro North.
