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IRELAND’S POPULATION IS projected to expand by a million people by 2040 – and today the government will reveal the cross-departmental plans they have created to meet that growth.
Ahead of the official launch in Sligo this afternoon, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed told assembled press that the plans will “make up for a lost decade” of austerity.
While the full scope of what Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his officials have titled Project Ireland 2040 will be revealed at 2pm, we know that there are plans to:
There will be further commitments to projects already previously announced in the lifetime of this government including the move of the National Maternity Hospital to the grounds of St Vincent’s, the National Children’s Hospital and the Metro North airport link.
Also revealed today will be a more detailed costing of those projects being earmarked for completion within the next 10 years, spanning 2018 to 2027.
Speaking this morning about the €116bn development plan, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said that measures are being taken to buffer Project Ireland 2040 from future political turmoil. He told RTÉ Radio One’s Sean O’Rourke:
What we are doing today hasn’t been done before. We are putting a plan in law that will be the basis for all future plans. We’re also setting up an independent regulator, to be independent of Government politicians to make sure that we adhere to that plan, and crucially, again for the first time, the investment will follow the plan.
TheJournal.ie understands that while there have been price tags attached to the various projects, those which are not yet underway will all still be subject to a cost appraisal process which might lead to approval or modification of plans as necessary.
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