Infrastructure spending 600 million down on target

mike65

FFS! Deep recession and the government can't even manage to spend the amount it has commited to captial spending I bet they fail to make up the difference between now and Dec 31st.

funnyname

Not surprising as the current deficit is €8.9bn so they are trying every thing to keep it down even it means they are committed to spending they agreed to. Easier to not spend on infrastructure where the deal hasn't been signed than to make other cuts to expenditure.

Cookie_Monster

I would imagine falling tender costs would have a lot to do with that

ntlbell

mike65 wrote: »

FFS! Deep recession and the government can't even manage to spend the amount it has commited to captial spending I bet they fail to make up the difference between now and Dec 31st.

how can they when they're borrowing billions to pay for PS wages?

RichardAnd

ntlbell wrote: »

how can they when they're borrowing billions to pay for PS wages?

I was waiting for this. And so it begins...

Nijmegen

The key point is whether it's down because of falling costs or because they're not spending it? Given falling income tax receipts might they be hanging onto the money to keep us appearing on spending targets?

Infrastructure spending is vital to the long term health of an economy.

RichardAnd

...

Pete_Cavan

Nijmegen wrote: »

The key point is whether it's down because of falling costs or because they're not spending it? Given falling income tax receipts might they be hanging onto the money to keep us appearing on spending targets?

Infrastructure spending is vital to the long term health of an economy.

Yes but we got carried away during the boom years and this has a lot to do with the current deficit. We can afford to cut infrastructure spending for the next two years because of the huge advances we made in our infrastructure over the past decade. Just maintain what have for now. There is also no point in continuing to invest if it means neglecting previous investments.

A few projects can still go ahead, like the interconnector and Metro North which there is demand for. Being delivered under the PPP model means the gov does not have to pay anything for a few years while reaping the initial benefits from getting the thing build and the employment etc. that goes along with it. But we must also be careful when commiting to such off balance sheet projects because the final costs can be as much as twice the capital costs and we will have to pay these over the next 20 -25 years.

Sponge Bob

Large scale Infrastructure underspend started around 2 years ago. Only two roadbuilding contracts has been signed since 2007 , the Castleisland Bypass and Gort Crusheen.

Precisely 0 roads will be under construction by December 2010 excepting the bottomless bog known as the "Mire of Gloom" in Annaholty in Limerick.....and even that is a reconstruction project strictly speaking.

Very few schools are under construction either and the underspend in 2009 was over 50% of the 2009 capiutal budget, same this year.

Most of the money announced for water and sewage is not being spent either. Only 1 water scheme went to tender in Galway this year ( IIRC) and 0 sewage schemes.

Capital spending in hospitals is also dead but that is fair enough seeing as they cannot staff the ones we have.

RealityCheck

I see in the UK they have increased capital spend while cutting other areas of expenditure. Here, we hav'nt just cut back, as Sponge Bob points out we have blitzed the capital budget. The capital budget is very jobs intensive and the cut back envisaged along with falls in private projects starting will lead to a further reduction of the labour force.

Scarab80

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Very few schools are under construction either and the underspend in 2009 was over 50% of the 2009 capiutal budget, same this year.

Where are you getting this figure from. The total capital budget last year was 6.894bn, in total 6.907 was spent. In education the capital budget was 841m, the total spend was 839m.

For the first 6 months of this year capital spending is 600m or 25% behind budget. Education is 56m or 36% behind budget.

irishh_bob

Nijmegen wrote: »

The key point is whether it's down because of falling costs or because they're not spending it? Given falling income tax receipts might they be hanging onto the money to keep us appearing on spending targets?

Infrastructure spending is vital to the long term health of an economy.

but less vital ( than current spending ) to the health of fianna fail