Roads budget increased for National Development Plan
The development of important road projects will be accelerated in changes to government policy from that of the previous coalition.
Final talks on the review of the national development plan will take place in the next fortnight, with an extra €20 billion expected to be allocated for infrastructure on top of the existing €165 billion. A source said stalled projects would be fast-tracked as the roads budget would be given 'certainty and stability'.
Under the previous version, negotiated when the Green Party was in government, there was a two-to-one split in favour of public transport over road projects, and Eamon Ryan, the former Green leader and transport minister, said some projects would not go ahead.
A senior government source said this weekend that 'we are not governed by ratios the way we were before' and the overall roads budget would benefit from 'more certainty and stability' than was previously the case.
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