16 May 2014
Brendan Howlin, Ireland’s public expenditure and reform minister, has announced that $273m will be made available to fund projects such as social housing, road schemes and tourist-related works to support long-term employment. The investment will be funded from the proceeds of the sale of state assets.
The aim of the financing is to triple housing output by 2020 and to create 60,000 jobs in this sector. A quarter of the investment is earmarked for housing and roads.
Howlin said the construction industry was showing promising signs of recovery, and was helping to generate economic activity. Recent figures suggest that activity in the sector has increased in each of the past eight months, with the latest expansion the sharpest since December 2004. Job creation continually increased over this period.
Brendan Howlin, Ireland’s minister for public expenditure and reform
The $273m investment is in addition to the Exchequer’s overall capital investment of $4.5bn that will be made this year.
Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Féin, has commented that the plan "didn’t make any sense at all in dealing with the (housing) crisis" and could lead to inflated house prices.
The projects are to be spread throughout Ireland.
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The aim of the financing is to triple housing output by 2020 and to create 60,000 jobs in this sector. A quarter of the investment is earmarked for housing and roads.