In spite of the political ballyhoo surrounding publication of details of the public capital spending programme for 2005, the unpalatable reality is that the Government is failing to meet its spending target of 5 per cent of GNP on roads and other infrastructural programmes. Last year, there was a carry-over of €250 million in unspent money. And Ireland's physical infrastructure continues to be ranked among the most inadequate in the developed world.
If we are serious about competitiveness and moving up the ladder to a higher, value-added economy, then we must invest in the mechanisms that will make that possible, be it education, various forms of transport systems and communication, along with research and development. But the most basic requirement is an efficient transport system. And we are struggling in that regard.
Last Monday, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, announced details of this year's spending plans for non-national roads, while the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, was present at the unveiling of Iarnród Éireann's plans for new railway carriages which will be delivered in 2008. It was soft-focus publicity. Provision for gross expenditure had already been announced in the November Estimates, but the ministers got another bite at the cherry by revealing particulars of county council allocations and railway contracts.
The exercise did nothing to impress the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), which yesterday criticised the Government's performance in relation to the National Development Plan and called for the establishment of new targets. The national roads programme was to be completed by next year, but it is now well behind schedule, and projects may not be finalised until the end of 2012. The cost, which was estimated at €5.6 billion in 1999, had risen to €15.8 billion by 2002. There was a variety of causes behind the sky-rocketing costs, and it is important that the Government and the National Roads Authority ensure that they do not recur. Efficient and effective planning must become a priority, with value for money a key concern.
On the face of it, there is little sign the Government is prepared to take the necessary, difficult decisions. It is nearly a year since the National Roads Authority said it would be impossible, without much higher funding, to complete the planned motorways from Dublin to Cork and to Galway by 2008. And it suggested tolling nine major roads. Since then, there has been a deafening silence. Time is slipping away and only 70 per cent of the national roads programme may be completed by the end of 2008. It is not good enough.