The new National Development Plan (NDP) announced today will cost every household in the State at least €120,000 over the next seven years, Fine Gael said today.
Responding to the much-leaked €184 billion plan announced by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today, Richard Bruton said the Government's vast overspend during the last NDP showed it may not be capable of achieving value for money this time.
"The NDP programme is not a gift from Fianna Fáil and the PDs. Every family in Ireland will pay an average of €120,000 over the coming years to fund it. Its worth hinges exclusively on the value for money of the projects included and their efficient delivery.
He said there was no doubt "coherent" planning and investment was required in transport, health and education but that too little had been achieved to date. "It is disheartening to see so many projects recycled from the last plan, and so many targets repeated," he said.
The Labour Party dismissed the 400-page plan, Ireland - A Better Quality of Life for All, as the longest election leaflet in the history of democratic politics.
"In reality today's plan is no more than a collection of party political election promises dressed up in the language of national rather than party targets.
"The 400 pages have less than 10 pages of detailed costings," finance spokesperson Joan Burton
said.
The last NDP was largely funded by the EU whereas the new plan would be paid for by tax revenues. But, Ms Bruton said, how the new programme would be funded had not been included in the plan.
"In this plan the government has projected forward spending for a further 7 years to 2013.
"I want to challenge the Minister for Finance to publish the corresponding projections of tax revenues for the period of the plan so that the Irish taxpayer can get some indication of the demands that the plan will make on them."
She also reflected concerns the possible inflationary impact of the plan or the effect on Ireland's carbon emissions.
The Green Party reflected some of Ms Burton's concerns saying the new NDP was a "nakedly political document" full of rhetoric.
Finance spokesman Dan Boyle doubted whether the €184 bn allocated could pay for all the proposals because of external factors such as energy price hikes and global economic growth.
"Another serious concern is the willingness of the Government to make ever increasing use of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), amounting to €16bn, to fund important capital investment programmes. Ireland is now among the most reliant country in the world on this type of funding mechanism, despite concerns about the accountability and cost efficiency of PPPs," Mr Boyle said.
Sinn Féin said the proposals lacked imagination and vision. Dáil leader Caoímhghín O Caoláin said initial analysis suggested the plan was "simply a repackaging of previous commitments and policies".
He said it was ironic the phrase "quality of life" was contained in the document's title, considering the Government's reponsibility for the cost of housing, increased traffic jams and commute times and healthcare inequality.
Over €1 bn is allocated to North/South investment but Mr O Caoláin some of the commitments on issues such as reopening the Ulster Canal or making the Dublin - Derry/Letterkenny route a dual carriageway.