Poll: Should we build an all-island motorway network?
Ibec argues the 25-year project is needed to wean Ireland off its Dublin-centric economy.
IRELAND’S LARGEST BUSINESS body, Ibec, could never be accused of thinking small.
The latest plan unveiled by the influential lobby is for a €15 billion, all-Ireland motorway that would connect all the country’s major urban centres with one another.
The idea was previously floated by Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy in a Fora interview earlier this year, when he argued the country needed to find ways to wean itself off a Dublin-centric economy.
It’s one of several infrastructure-focused pitches the employers’ group has made to government, which also included a recent call for €1 billion to be spent on social housing.
Ibec has put the price of the project at €375 million per year – the sum needed to service government borrowing for the construction, which it estimated would take nearly 25 years to complete in full.
That’s roughly €94 each year for every worker in the state, although that doesn’t include the added bill to motorists who would likely wind up paying tolls on at least parts of a new motorway network.
However, if the government found the breathing space within EU regulations to raise billions more in extra debt to fund infrastructure, the country’s strained housing sector, public transport network and hospitals are also crying out for investment.
With all that in mind, we’re asking readers: Should we build an all-island motorway network?
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