FUNDING HAS been approved for the commencement of work on the N11/25 Enniscorthy and New Ross bypasses.

The long awaited roads are among the infrastructure projects to receive funding under a stimulus package of more than €2 billion announced by the government today.

Details of investment in schools and primary healthcare facilities will also be outlined by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin shortly.
This morning (Tuesday) the government signed off on the infrastructure stimulus package aimed at labour-intensive sectors of the economy including construction. The money will come from PPPs and the sale of State assets, the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The schemes have been selected because of their potential to stimulate economic growth and because they are “shovel-ready” in most instances.
Min. Howlin has indicated the first of the State assets to go on the market will be Bord Gáis Energy, one of the main divisions of the State-owned Bord Gáis group. New Era, the agency charged with overseeing the process, advertised for financial advisers to work on the sale recently.
The N25 New Ross bypass and the Clough-Oylegate project ranks as the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in County Wexford, costing hundreds of millions of euros.
Investment for many projects had to be delayed when the capital spending budget for this year was cut by €755 million to €3.9 billion last November. Min. Howlin has said the government was attempting to be as “creative and innovative” as it could be about “off-balance-sheet” funding of strategic infrastructure.