“Project Ireland 2040” plan unveiled 

Leo Varadkar – Picture by Annika Haas.

Friday, 16 February 2018, Dublin, Republic of Ireland: The Irish Government presented to the public the framework to guide how Ireland develops over the next two decades

The launch is comprised of two distinct plans , that is, the “National Planning Framework” as well as the “National Development Plan”. Put together they form “Project Ireland 2040”, namely the government’s vision for how to develop the country over the coming decades.

The measures include:

• A huge investment in climate change including plans to ban all non-zero emissions cars by 2030 and changing bus fleets to hybrids.
• €500 million to stimulate people to become more climate friendly – upgrading their homes and cars.
• Social housing for 112,000 households over the next decade.
• A plan to see 75% of the growth to 2040 happen outside of Dublin.
• An urban regeneration fund to the tune of €2bn to fund projects in Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway.
• Rural development fund of €1bn will be aimed at towns and villages.
• More than €8bn being put towards developing the roads network, including motorway upgrades and a dedicated Atlantic corridor to run from Donegal down to Waterford.
• The plan aims to provide 200,000 new or replacement school places through a €8.4bn investment, and a €420 million digital strategy for schools.
• An average of 50 large-scale school projects annually.
• €1bn for Ireland’s cultural institutions.
• A €2bn urban regeneration fund for the cities and a €1bn investment for smaller towns.
• A new runway for Dublin Airport, and investment in Cork & Shannon Airports, Ireland West Airport Knock and smaller airports.
• A goal of 2,600 extra acute hospital beds and 4,500 residential beds in community nursing homes.
• Planning to extend the LUAS to Bray, Finglas, Lucan, Poolbeg; completion of Metro Link by 2027, running from Sandyford to Swords via Dublin Airport; and a DART extension to towns such as Drogheda and Maynooth.
• Bus Connects programme for Dublin, Cork and Galway with new corridors and ticketing plans.

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For further information:

Irish Government: http://gov.ie/en/project-ireland-2040

Taoiseach of Ireland, H.E. Mr. Leo Varadkar: https://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/splash/

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Leo Varadkar – Picture by Annika Haas, EU2017 EE Estonian Presidency 2017 through Wikipedia Commons