Speech by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, at the Launch of the Government Capital Plan 2016 – 2021

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the launch of the Government’s Capital Plan to secure the recovery and to ensure that all regions share in its benefits.

This €27 billion investment plan for Ireland is essential to restore all the jobs lost in the recession by 2018 and to get unemployment down to 6% by 2020.

It is affordable, achievable and consistent with the Government plan to eliminate Government borrowing by 2018. It is also necessary to promote regional economic growth, jobs and future recovery.

It was necessary throughout the financial crisis to keep spending under control in order to restore our national finances to stability. We used every innovative way we could think of to raise additional capital to invest in Ireland’s recovery.

Our recovery plan has taken us to this important juncture for Ireland. We are the fastest growing economy in Europe and we are creating over 1,300 new jobs a week. This plan will help spread the recovery around the country where we know that many families are still to feel the effects of recovery.

However, a growing economy, population and job numbers bring their own challenges to areas where the recovery is more advanced. People can see the emerging economic recovery impacting on their daily lives whether it be more traffic, public transport under pressure, or increasing demand on State services.

The new investment planned in roads, public transport, education, healthcare, flood risk, enterprise, and in policing are all designed to alleviate these pressures.

The time has come to invest to secure the recovery.

We have to clear away the blockages that threaten to hold our country back.

The people know exactly what’s not working and needs to be fixed. They live with these challenges on a daily basis.

The 45,000 construction jobs that this plan will support over its lifetime will be essential to getting that industry back up off its knees.

This plan is an affordable and realistic approach to the challenges we face as we continue to work to secure the recovery.

But the recovery is still not complete and we must continue to manage the national finances carefully or risk falling back.

We could not afford everything we wanted but this plan represents the best of what can be delivered with the available resources.

We will never go back to the bad old days of Boom and Bust. The days of Fianna Fáil blank cheques are gone.

It goes without saying that the projects committed to in this plan are reliant on the choices that this Government and the next make to continue the recovery.

Fine Gael and Labour have proven that we can work together to deliver a strong economy.

With the will of the people it is our intention to fully implement this plan and to secure the recovery for the people of Ireland.