Labour's Roads Policy

Amtmann

From what I can see, they don't have one. Type 'motorway' into their website's search engine and you get this, which suggests they haven't thought about road infrastructure for a few years at least.

marmurr1916

Policy for a Strategic Investment Bank (SIB) to finance SMEs and raise finance for major infrastructure projects:

Labour believes that the best way to address the capital and SME funding gaps is to establish a Strategic Investment Bank (SIB) which would lend to SMEs, invest in innovative companies and raise finance for appropriate infrastructure projects.

The SIB would be broadly modelled on the German Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), and on the ICC/ACC models that previously operated in Ireland (For a summary of KfW see Appendix 1).The intention would be to develop the SIB both as a business bank, and as a public finance powerhouse that would radically change the manner in which proposed public investment is appraised, planned and financed.

...

Financing capital investment
There are currently three methods of financing infrastructure in Ireland:
i. Direct Exchequer funding – for traditionally procured capital projects like
schools, hospitals etc.
ii. Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects – originally for projects where
there was a user charge like motorways but increasingly for social
infrastructure like schools, hospitals and housing. These projects have
been financed by non-recourse lending secured against user payments or
payments from government to the private consortium.
iii. Debt financing of semi-state utilities – for example bonds raised by ESB,
BGE etc.

A key reason for the development of the PPP approach to funding public
infrastructure was to meet some of the nation’s infrastructure needs without
breaching the SGP restrictions on the level of the public deficit. The PPP system in Ireland, has, however, encountered a number of problems. Firstly, the cost of PPPs has been the subject of some criticism, particularly since the cost of funding PPP projects is greater than if the state were simply to borrow the money itself.

Secondly, the banking crisis has dramatically reduced the level of interest in PPPs among potential investors. The availability of finance for PPP projects from both domestic and foreign banks has effectively dried up since the credit crisis began.

Where finance is still available, it is for shorter periods than the life of the
infrastructure project in question and at a much greater cost, mostly rendering thePPP funding model unviable.

There is nothing to suggest that the private banks have any appetite to continue to finance such projects once the guarantee expires. Indeed bidders for Metro North have explicitly stated that the Government will have to underwrite the financing risks in order for the project to be built. Private bidders have made it clear that in order for PPPs to be viable for them, the state will have to contribute more to their cost, thereby undermining the argument that PPPs represent better value for money than traditional public capital investment.

Instead, we need to put in place a fresh approach to public investment that
harnesses the ability of the state to borrow for capital investment and of the private sector to deliver projects on time and within cost. An approach that will stimulate the economy, create employment and support our vision for the investment economy.

Labour is proposing that the SIB would lead this new approach to funding
infrastructure projects. While it would continue to harness the ability of the private sector to deliver projects on time and within cost, it would leverage the ability of the state to borrow money for capital spending significantly cheaper than private operators. It would thus play to the strengths of both the state and the private sector.

The SIB would do so by identifying a project or bundle of projects and by then taking the lead role in financing them. It would prepare and issue bonds on the international capital markets and to institutional and retail investors. The private consortium appointed to design, build and operate the project or projects in question would borrow the project funding from SIB (and through SIB from other lenders), for a small margin over the coupon SIB would pay on the bond in order to cover SIB’s costs.

Projects that would be funded by issuing bonds would include those where there was a user charge like roads, public transport, waste, communications and energy, as well as social infrastructure like health, education and cultural facilities where the state pays an annual fee for use of the facility. The private consortium would repay the SIB over the duration of the project from user charges or else from the payments it would receive from the sponsoring department or agency for the construction, operation and maintenance of the project. SIB lending would reduce the cost of funds to private consortia, resulting in the provision of critical public infrastructure at a lower cost to the public purse and to users of services provided than the current PPP system.

....

Labour in Government will bring forward a new NDP, and will regularly review the investment priorities of the state. These programmes will be reviewed and analysed by the SIB in order to advise the Government on those that are appropriate for funding by way of SIB bonds. However the final decision on involvement in any project will rest with the SIB Board. The total share of any project financed by the bank will also be subject to commercial and prudential considerations. It may also be affected by Eurostat rules.

http://www.labour.ie/download/pdf/investinginfuture.pdf

Policy on rural public transport: http://www.labour.ie/download/pdf/rt.pdf

This is an overview of their public transport policy:

Essential Public Transport

Public transport projects to be fast-tracked to deliver integrated, efficient bus, tram, cycle and electrified rail networks to our cities.
Upgraded intercity rail routes to ensure that intercity rail journeys are faster than their equivalent by road.
Tackling the immediate crisis in the Greater Dublin Area by:
Increasing the current Dublin Bus fleet by 50 per cent, or 500 buses.
Devoting more road space to buses, similar to that allocated to Luas, to enable them to travel faster and arrive at predictable intervals.
Extending the Dublin Bus network to major residential areas within a 25 mile radius of the city.
Introducing a €1 adult fare and 50 cent children's fare on the entire Dublin Bus network within this 25 mile radius.
Expanded transport of freight by rail through the development of incentives.

http://www.labour.ie/policy/listing/1176375508454033.html

In summary:

• New Strategic Investment Bank to raise finance for large infrastructure projects
• Projects would still be designed, built and operated by private companies
• User charges (tolls) would still be in place
• New National Development Plan (no details)

Public Transport:

• Protect Bus Eireann's rural bus network
• Improve and extend the Rural Transport schemes
• Fast track public transport projects
• Upgrade intercity railway lines
• Increase the size of Dublin Bus fleet by 500 buses
• More road space for buses
• Extend Dublin Bus area of operation to 40km around Dublin
• Introduce reduced fares: €1 for adults, 50c for children

Amtmann

Thanks for that Marmurr. I suppose really what I am looking for are specifics, or even overviews of corridors that Labour view as strategic and worthy of upgrade, but very few parties (if any?) supply those. The reason I am so fixated on specifics is that the NRA have clearly outlined their plans for multiple routes, and so a potential party of government should, in my view, have a general idea such as "yes, we will prioritise the N28 ahead of the N24", or "we will scale back the Atlantic Corridor from Cork to Waterford but instead focus investment on the N24", etc. Perhaps I expect too much.

marmurr1916

Furet wrote: »

Thanks for that Marmurr. I suppose really what I am looking for are specifics, or even overviews of corridors that Labour view as strategic and worthy of upgrade, but very few parties (if any?) supply those. The reason I am so fixated on specifics is that the NRA have clearly outlined their plans for multiple routes, and so a potential party of government should, in my view, have a general idea such as "yes, we will prioritise the N28 ahead of the N24", or "we will scale back the Atlantic Corridor from Cork to Waterford but instead focus investment on the N24", etc. Perhaps I expect too much.

I don't think you're going to find that level of detail from any political party unless they're in government.

Even then, the finer detail will probably be worked out by the NRA and approved by the minister and cabinet.

Judging from the overall tone, I think Labour would prefer to concentrate on public transport but not to the extent that the Greens (soon to be RIP) would.

If the Strategic Bank idea is successful, it will be easier to raise funds for major infrastructure projects, meaning that some stalled or cancelled projects could be revived.

Overall, I think it will be another generation at least before Ireland's entire road network, and major rail network (including metro and Luas in Dublin) will be brought up to mainstream, western European standards.

There are still a hell of a lot of improvements needed on the national primary network, work on the national secondary network has barely started, about 85% of regional roads need significant improvements and the local road network needs to be rationalised and improved.

At the current rate of progress that's going to take about 25 years or more to achieve.

And that's just roads!

The main intercity railway lines need major investment to improve journey times - tracks, signalling and rolling stock need to be improved - and Dublin's transport network has a long way to go - completion of Metro and LUAS lines, DART underground and improvements and extensions to the DART network, the Kildare Route Project etc.

There's about 15-20 years work in that lot.

But at least we're getting somewhere.

For decades there was only minimal investment in Ireland's transport infrastructure.

Then we got a bit of money and we were investing 5% of GDP in capital spending until the crash.

Over the next 5-6 years that figure's going to fall to an average of 3.8% or lower:

The profile for capital spending set out in Budget 2010, shows nominal spending of €6,466m in 2010, or approximately 5% of GNP. This is projected to fall to €5,500m in 2011 and for each year to 2014 (effectively, this figure will remain constant in nominal terms to 2016, given the €39billion envelope). On the basis of reasonable assumptions, therefore, capital spending will fall from approximately 5% of GNP in 2010, to approximately 3.1% in 2016, averaging approximately 3.8% of GNP for the period as a whole.

Hopefully, with an economic recovery, we can bring that up to an average of about 5% for the medium-term (ca. 20 years).