A €50 billion investment plan to promote social inclusion, aimed primarily at children and older people living in poverty, will be a central element of the Government's National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-2013 to be announced tomorrow by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, write Miriam Donohoeand Stephen Collins.
The other priority areas will be social infrastructure, mainly social and affordable housing, which will get €30 billion and the education and training sector which will get €25 billion.
The Government will also make a major investment in computers and information technology for schools.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin will follow this up with a strategy for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in schools.
Over €180 billion will be committed under the NDP with investment in a number of key areas including transport, children's initiatives, housing, social programmes and training, education, enterprise and the all-island economy.
Over €1 billion will be set aside for investment in projects in Northern Ireland and in Border areas to promote closer ties between the two parts of the island.
One of the objectives of the Government in spending taxpayers money from the Republic on projects in the North is to underpin the peace process by trying to boost the Northern economy.
For the first time in a National Development Plan, social inclusion has been included as a priority and of the €50 billion earmarked in this area €13 billion will be spent on children's programmes.
In particular childcare services will be targeted to ensure that programmes are put in place in disadvantaged areas.
Funding will be allocated for training, live-at-home services for older people, programmes to support Travellers and funding for the national action plan against racism.
A Government source said the emphasis will be on improving quality of life and preparing Ireland for a huge increase in population over the next decade.
Key "quality of life" issues will be addressed and there is a focus on balanced regional development based on the National Spatial Strategy, the source said.
A €30 million package will be spent on social infrastructure. The key focus will be on housing with a promise of 60,000 new social housing units and 40,000 affordable homes. The childcare package will also come into this part of the plan with 50,000 new childcare places promised.
The Minister will also announce a €300 million "gateway innovation fund" for organisations in so-called "gateway towns". The idea is that local groups can bid for money from the fund for proposed projects. It is hoped these projects could be complemented with private development as well.
The plan will also contain a number of measures to "environmentally proof" new developments in transport, building, energy and agriculture.
Energy conservation measures are regarded as particularly important and the funding for these new procedures will be a key element of the plan.
On the education front the unprecedented commitment to ICT comes after years of under investment in technology in schools - only €2.3m was given to schools for the purchase of IT equipment last year. The Republic has one of the lowest rates of ICT usage in education in the developed world.
Some 20 per cent of computers in schools cannot be used, while 50 per cent are at least four years old according to a recent study by the National Council for Technology in Education.
Aside from new equipment, the new NDP package will provide dedicated funding for teacher training and maintenance support.
Support for educational investment will be one of the key elements of the NDP. The new ICT investment is designed to develop an eLearning culture in schools.
Efforts to build an ICT strategy for schools have been damaged by the on-off nature of funding in the past decade.