The Social Democrats welcome the passing in the Dáil today of its motion calling on the government to get to grips with the public finances and deliver meaningful action on public spending and investment.
“The government needs to do as this Dáil motion says and provide full details about exactly which projects earmarked under the National Development Plan will be delayed or cancelled due to a lack of funding as a result of Fine Gael’s spectacular failure to prudently manage the public finances.”
The Social Democrats welcome the passing in the Dáil today of its motion calling on the government to get to grips with the public finances and deliver meaningful action on public spending and investment.
The private members’ motion to revise allocations for projects in the National Development Plan passed with 79 votes in favour.
Welcoming the support of the Dáil, which declared a climate and diversity emergency a month ago, party co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said:
“The passage of the Social Democrats’ motion with strong support from other parties must be a wakeup call for the Fine Gael government to get to grips with the public finances and also to respond effectively and fairly to the accelerating impacts of global warming.
“Our motion calls on the government to urgently revise both the National Development Plan and the National Planning Framework to properly reflect the real capacity of the state to invest in capital projects.
“This is all the more pressing in light of the massive capital spend overruns identified by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council this week in its scathing report to government.
“The estimated cost of the National Children’s Hospital has doubled in six years and is now heading towards €2bn, while the cost for the National Broadband plan has shot up by 500%.
“The government needs to do as this Dáil motion says and provide full details about exactly which projects earmarked under the National Development Plan will be delayed or cancelled due to a lack of funding as a result of Fine Gael’s spectacular failure to prudently manage the public finances.”
ENDS
13th June 2019