As US-generated uncertainty continues to threaten the world economy, this morning’s Government meeting will focus largely on measures to prepare for any economic headwinds blowing towards Ireland.
Having recently focused on the need for infrastructural delivery to safeguard Ireland’s attractiveness and competitiveness, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers will update ministers on the new dedicated Infrastructure Division in his department and a taskforce that will support it.
That taskforce will draw on expertise from Uisce Éireann, Eirgrid, ESB and Transport Infrastructure Ireland to assist in identifying and dealing with blockages and barriers that slow the development of strategic infrastructure.
The taskforce will meet monthly and will be chaired by Mr Chambers.
By July, it will have a report on the blockages it has identified and its findings will feed into efforts to speed up infrastructure delivery.
The new Infrastructure Division will work in tandem with the Department of Housing’s new acceleration office.
However, Sinn Féin said the taskforce “seems like old wine in new bottles”.
‘Back to the future’
The party’s Public Expenditure and Reform spokesperson, Mairéad Farrell, said Mr Chambers’ plans to bring a memo to the Cabinet “appears to be driven by optics more than anything else”.
“A previous group was set up in 2018 to speed up and improve how we deliver infrastructure in this State,” she said.
Ms Farrell added the Construction Sector Group “produced some excellent reports, unfortunately, they were married to government inaction. This now seems like a case of back to the future”.
“This business of bringing memos to Cabinet appears to be driven by optics more than anything else,” she said.
Competitiveness
Also at the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Enterprise Tourism and Employment Peter Burke will bring proposals to enhance Ireland’s competitiveness.
This will comprise of the development of an Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity over the next 12 weeks. It will focus on industrial policy, reducing costs and regulation on businesses, digital regulation and reform, energy development, as well as research and development of international trade.
Minister Burke will also propose a number of short-term measures to help with competitiveness, including work on international free trade agreements and implementing CETA, the Canadian-EU trade agreement.
That would remove barriers to trade such as tariffs between the two blocs.
A review of overseas marketing of Ireland and of trade missions will also be undertaken.
Climate Action
Meanwhile, Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O’Brien will seek Government approval to publish the Climate Action Plan for 2025.
The plan outlines carbon reduction targets to be met across different sectors, the progress made in reductions in each sector in recent years and how Ireland’s 2030 and 2050 targets can be met.
The minister will also have a plan for Cabinet approval proposing new areas for offshore wind development around the country.
That comes as the Government plans in this area suffered a significant blow, with the confirmation yesterday that a planned wind farm, Sceirde Rocks windfarm, off Carna will not now go ahead.
Even though the planning application for the windfarm, which has been worked up over a number of years was only submitted in January, the company behind it, Corio Generation, has said they have refocused their development plans.
Both the Taoiseach and Mr O’Brien expressed disappointment at the news.
The Sceirde Rocks project was one of an initial six offshore windfarms that was in development.
Had it been built, its 30 turbines, which would have been 300m tall, would have supplied power to 350,000 homes and prevented the generation of 550,000 tonnes of carbon every year.
New HQ for Army Ranger Wing
Separately, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence Simon Harris will inform the Cabinet of a plan to build a new headquarters for the Army Ranger Wing at the Curragh Camp in Co Kildare.
The new state-of-the-art headquarters and training centre will cost €46 million and construction is due to commence later this year.
Mr Harris will also update colleagues on EU-UK relations, which have been improving in recent months, with a EU-UK summit due to take place on 19 May.
