Project 2040 Ireland is a strategy outlining Ireland's future society
Project Ireland 2040, Ireland's 10-year €116 billion capital investment plan was announced today - when Leo Varadkar held a special Cabinet meeting at the Institute of Technology in Sligo.
The Project aims to successfully mange Ireland's future society. It's estimated our population will grow by a Million in the coming decades. Which means approximately 550,000 new houses will be required, as well as around 660,000 jobs. It's paramount that Ireland's infrastructure continues to evolve in order to cope with these increases.
Speaking at the launch, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “This marks a significant milestone in our country’s development, the point at which we put a lost decade behind us and move forward into a new decade of expansion. This is a plan for all our citizens – the old, the young, and the yet to be born, living in towns, in cities and in the countryside.''
Hot off the presses #Ireland2040 pic.twitter.com/GtgCDN9fO4
— Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) February 16, 2018
Some of the key features of the project include:
- €8.4bn investment in primary and post primary schools, 50 large scale school projects annually with an additional 15,000 schools places annually;
- 2,600 extra acute hospital beds and three new dedicated ambulatory elective-only hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway to specifically tackle waiting lists;
- Extra primary care centres and more residential accommodation for mental health services and people with disabilities;
- €7.3bn for regional road accessibility investing in national roads across Ireland, plus €4.5 billion for regional and local, improving links to the north west and across the country;
- Building at least 25,000 homes a year by 2020, rising to 30-35,000 annually up to 2027;
- Providing social housing for 112,000 households over the next decade;
- Developing the Atlantic Corridor high-quality road network linking Cork, Limerick, Galway and Sligo;
- €2.2 billion investment in higher education infrastructure, including Public Private Partnership investment in 11 Institutes of Technology;
- Significant investment in bus and rail fleets, overhauling bus networks through the BusConnects programme in our cities, and transitioning to low emission buses;
- Investment in our airports and ports, including a second runway for Dublin Airport, a Regional Airports Programme and dedicated investment in Dublin, Cork and Shannon Foynes Port;
- A major investment programme in cultural institutions, regional arts centres, national parks and sports capital programme;
- Vacant or under-used land in villages, towns and cities will be put into use through a National Regeneration and Development Agency;
- Short-term delivery of the National Broadband Strategy ensuring coverage in villages, rural areas and islands;
- Develop the Metro Link in Dublin, expand DART to Drogheda, Celbridge, Maynooth and Greystones, and planning for the expansion of Luas;
- New segregated cycling and walking facilities and networks, especially in cities and towns;
- Bring unemployment rates in all regions down to within 1% of the national average;
- Ongoing focus on Foreign Direct Investment but giving equal priority to a local enterprise economy and setting up an Advanced Manufacturing Centre;
- Expanding the IDA Regional Property Programme;
- A particular focus on cooperation and joint development of border areas that open up potential for an all-island economy;
- A new runway for Dublin Airport, investment in Cork, Shannon Airports, and Ireland West Airport Knock, and for smaller airports;
- Major development of Dublin, Cork, Shannon-Foynes and other Ports,
- Upgrading energy insulation in 45,000 homes per annum from 2021;
- Significant investment in national cultural institutions.
