Dooley accuses Government of ‘repackaging’ stimulus programme

Parts of the Government’s heavily-hyped Infrastructure Stimulus PPP Programme, announced this week, have been branded as “repackaging” by an Opposition TD.

Deputy Timmy Dooley noted the familiar ring to some of the projects announced under the programme including a new second-level school for Tulla and the progression of the Gort to Tuam motorway.
The Fianna Fáil TD noted “there is an element of repackaging in this” but welcomed the fact the Government is making a firm commitment to funding capital projects that create jobs.
“These projects were all part of the previous administration’s capital works programme. When the Government came to office they quietly shifted them to one side and delayed them without much fanfare and since that they have been re-announcing and re-launching them,” he said.
“The Government, when they came in to office, took some soft options in not increasing taxes and not reducing social welfare and they took about €700 million out of the Capital Programme something which I disagreed with at the time. They have now seen the error of their ways and started to put projects back on track again,” he commented.
Deputy Dooley accused the Government of “rehashing the same stuff” but added that he “is pleased that at long last they understand the principal of capital investment and that it has a significant impact in the long term on the economy and it has the immediate benefit of generating much-needed employment in the construction sector”.
Government TD Pat Breen said the difference between this week’s announcement and previous ones is that the Government is now putting forward the money for the projects. He said that, up to now, the Gort to Tuam motorway had been “stalled” and that “We were very worried about it in terms of going ahead”.
“The government are now putting the money aside for that. They are putting the money aside for their part of it. In other words, the financial backing will be put into place which wasn’t there before,” he said.
The new secondary school in Tulla is coming on track sooner than anticipated and the Fine Gael deputy hopes to see Sixmilebridge and Kilrush feature in the next “bundle”.
Deputy Breen refused to accept that this week’s announcement was cynical or a “repackaging” of old news.
“How often in the last five years have we been told about hospitals and roads going ahead, and none of them went ahead. Now this is a concrete proposal. They are going ahead,” he asserted.
Ennis, Gort and Limerick City have each been earmarked for primary care centres in the stimulus package. They were among 35 locations identified but only 20 will see primary care centres built under this phase of the programme.