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The Irish government has provided more details of how it intends to spend its \u20ac14bn tax windfall from Apple.<\/p>\n
The money is being used to beef-up the country’s National Development Plan (NDP), a \u20ac112bn (\u00a397bn) package of infrastructure investments.<\/p>\n
It will be spent on housing, energy, water and transport projects between 2026 and 2030.<\/p>\n
It has also been confirmed that just under \u20ac1bn (\u00a3867m) will be committed to the cross-border Shared Island fund up to 2030.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Current Shared Island projects include the Narrow Water Bridge between south Down and north Louth.<\/p>\n
No specific new projects have been identified in either the Shared Island strand or the wider NDP; details are expected to be given in the October budget.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Miche\u00e1l Martin said there was a need to “immediately implement a step-change in the scale and quality of public investment in critical sectors”.<\/p>\n
“By any measure this will represent the largest investment in economic and social infrastructure in the history of the State,” he added.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure shortfalls are adding to Ireland’s chronic housing shortage which remains one of the country’s biggest social, economic and political issues.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial crisis in the late 2000s, there was a collapse in public and private sector infrastructure investment.<\/p>\n
The country’s economy has recovered strongly from that crisis but infrastructure delivery has not kept pace.<\/p>\n
The government has the money to tackle the problems as a corporation tax windfall, far larger than the one-off Apple payment, has put the public finances in a healthy position.<\/p>\n
However, some economists have cautioned that a lack of capacity in the construction sector and planning delays will limit what can be achieved in the short term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n