The Government is providing for a sharp rise in capital spending in 1999, with significant increases in investment in schools, local authority housing, hospitals and roads.
Overall, Government capital investment spending will increase by 27 per cent to £2,216 million next year.
Further funding for public capital projects will also come from the resources of the semi-state bodies and from EU structural funds.
When these are added to Government funds, total spending under the public capital programme next year is planned to come to £4.752 billion, up 13.4 per cent on 1998.
The underlying increase comes to around 18 per cent, when adjustment is made for the fact that local authorities will from next year provide funds for investment in roads from their own resources, including motor tax receipts, rather than as before from funds allocated from central Government.
The Government has clearly signalled its intention to continue to push up capital spending to try to lay the foundations for future growth and attack the problems threatening the economy in areas such as road congestion.
Announcing the increases, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said such spending was now "vital" to ensure future economic and social development in the Republic. "The Government is very much aware of the severe pressures which the high economic growth of recent years has placed on our infrastructure.
"Public capital investment has to be increased to remove bottlenecks in order that continued strong economic growth that we have experienced over the past number of years will continue," he said.
The huge boost to capital expenditure programmes represents a cumulative 58 per cent rise since 1997 and is part of Government efforts to take full advantage of available EU structural funds.
The current allocation of these funds is due to run out next year.
Mr McCreevy said he was "satisfied" that the increased capital spending could be financed within an acceptable overall budgetary position.
The single biggest allocation goes to the Department of the Environment, which is to get an additional £212 million, with £28 million earmarked for investment in housing. The remainder will be spent on other infrastructural investment. The Government has also sanctioned a further £155 million for hospital building projects and new capital investment in the health services. Investment in public transport infrastructure has also received a substantial boost, with an extra £90 million to be made available to upgrade and extend the rail and public bus network.
Some £26 million will go towards rail investment, while a further £10 million is destined for spending on Dublin light rail transport.
Government capital spending on agriculture is also to be expanded, with an extra £26 million available for projects such as Leader and Interreg and the On Farm Investment Scheme.
Tourism, Sport and Recreation is getting an additional £21 million towards the provision of major recreational and sports facilities. Bord Failte will get a further £6 million in grants in 1999 from this allocation, while £6 million has also been provided to build Ireland's first 50-metre swimming pool. Some £5.5 million will be issued in sports and recreation grants.
Education will receive an extra £18 million, the bulk of which will again go to the Scientific and Technological Education Investment Fund, and to support building programmes in the State's national and second-level schools.
Additional capital spending, while designed to provide the infrastructure for further economic growth, will in itself boost economic activity by providing extra work, particularly for the construction industry.
The Government hopes that the long-term benefit of this investment will outweigh the short-term risk of further increasing the level of activity at a time when the economy is already operating at full throttle and labour shortages are emerging in many areas.