Four new Luas lines promised in Leo’s €116bn masterplan
Aim is for no new diesel or petrol cars to be sold after 2030 ■ Proposals include 500,000 homes to be built over two decades ■
FOUR new Luas lines feature in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s €116bn masterplan for the future of Ireland, the Irish Independent can reveal. Project Ireland 2040 will see the construction of 500,000 new homes over the next two decades and includes €2bn for the regeneration of the country’s five main cities.
The plan has undergone radical reworking when compared with a draft version that was released last year. Among the major changes is the watering down of proposed new rules which would have effectively ended the practice of building one-off homes in the countryside. It was planned to curtail farmers’ sons and daughters from building on their land unless there was an “economic need”. But planners will now also be able to factor in a social dimension to applications. Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring is also to get a €1bn fund targeted at regenerating towns with fewer than 10,000 people.
The Irish Independent can reveal other key elements of Project Ireland 2040 include:
25,000 to 35,000 new homes annually.
Atlantic road corridor from Donegal to Waterford.
M20 from Limerick to Cork. Luas extensions to Bray, Lucan, Finglas and Poolbeg.
€22bn for climate change initiatives.
20,000 new school places. New ambulance bases in Ardee, Mullingar, Cork, Dublin and Galway.
Light rail service for Cork. Elective-only hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway. 2,600 new hospital beds, Refurbishment of 30 Garda stations.
Upgrades to Mountjoy and Limerick prisons.
FOUR new Luas lines feature in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s €116bn masterplan for the future of Ireland, the Irish Independent can reveal.
Project Ireland 2040 will see the construction of 500,000 new homes over the next two decades and includes €2bn for the regeneration of the country’s five main cities.
The plan has undergone radical reworking when compared with a draft version that was released last year. Among the major changes is the loosening of rules which would have effectively ended a so-called ‘bungalow blitz’ in the countryside. It was planned to curtail farmers’ sons and daughters from building on their land unless there was an “economic need” – but planners will now also be able to factor in a social dimension.
Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring is also to get a €1bn fund targeted at regenerating towns with fewer than 10,000 people.
The Irish Independent can reveal other key elements of Project Ireland 2040 include: π 25,000 to 35,000 new homes annually. π Luas extensions to Bray, Lucan, Finglas and Poolbeg. π Refurbishment of 30 Garda stations. π Upgrades to Mountjoy and Limerick prisons. π €1bn for flood defences. π €22bn for climate change initiatives. π 20,000 new school places. π Elective-only hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Galway. π New ambulance bases in Ardee, Mullingar, Cork, Dublin and Galway. π Atlantic road corridor from Donegal to Waterford. π M20 from Limerick to Cork. π Light rail service for Cork. π 2,600 new hospital beds. π €1bn for arts and culture,
The plan divides the country into three regions and states 75pc of population growth over the next two decades should occur outside Dublin.
Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford are designated as the urban centres for expansion, meaning they get extra attention when it comes to infrastructure investment.
Sligo, where the plan is being launched, gets special status as a ‘regional centre’, as does Letterkenny in Co Donegal. Despite complaints from other towns, Athlone is to be the ‘capital of the midlands’.
This is seen as a win for local Independent Alliance minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, whose department has also been promised €1bn for flood defences. Ahead of the launch, Mr Varadkar hit out at Opposition parties for trying to create division between different regions.
“Trying to divide us urban and rural and even trying to divide us between who lives below a line between Dublin and Galway and those who live above that line.
“To me that’s not leadership. That’s the worst form of old, parochial politics, trying to breed resentment rather than encouraging people to be ambitious about their city or their region or their county and to look to the future,” he told a Chamber of Commerce event in Dublin.
According to sources, the areas of housing, health and transport get the bulk of the money. A powerful new body known as the ‘National Regeneration and Development Agency’ is to be established under Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy. It will work with local authorities to free up brownfield sites for new developments, including privately owned locations.
Health Minister Simon Harris will get funding for three new hospitals that will deal exclusively with patients waiting for elective surgeries. The facilities will be based in Dublin, Cork and Galway.
The National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s features in the plan, as does the National Children’s Hospital. The Development Plan allocates €22bn to climate change measures but a lot of the heavy lifting will be done by the ESB and public transport companies. Peat burning is to be removed from all power stations by 2030.
Among the targets is the retrofitting of 45,000 houses and schools built before 2008 to be more energy efficient.
With diesel cars already under the spotlight, it is expected to set out one of its strategic targets that there will be no new diesel or petrol cars after 2030.
And Dublin Bus will be barred from buying diesel-fuelled vehicles after July 2019. An urban regeneration fund worth €2bn will include money for improvements to Waterford’s North Quays, Galway city centre and Cork docklands.