Public Investment and the Irish Economy

To achieve a European standard of living, Ireland needs to invest considerable resources over many years in developing a European style infrastructure. Pointing to the fact that our infrastructural deficit is not unusual for a country converging rapidly to a world-standard level of income per head, this article argues that finance should not be the major constraint in delivering the current National Development Plan. Finance notwithstanding, the problems with the Plan have had as much to do with the inability of the economy to produce the infrastructure at a reasonable cost. And while provision of new infrastructure is obviously vital, it is also important to adopt measures aimed at getting the best out of the existing infrastructure.