FINE GAEL proposed an investment programme yesterday that would create 100,000 jobs within five years and generate €2.5 billion in extra labour taxes.
According to the plan, companies would be put under a new “super manager” to ensure co-operation to improve energy and water supplies and offer world-standard broadband by 2013.
The extra borrowing would not appear on the Government’s balance sheet, since it would be held in a semi-State body and deliver commercial returns.
Existing semi-States, such as the ESB, Bord na Móna, Bord Gais, An Post, Coillte and Eirgrid, would come under the direction of a new body, NewERA, which would have 100 staff.
NewERA would have an €11 billion investment budget, funded by the National Pension Reserve Fund, European Investment Bank borrowings and bond sales.
NewERA would “break down the culture of empire-building by State companies”. In particular, the broadband and telecom networks owned by ESB, CIÉ, Bord Gais would be merged into a new agency, Broadband 21. This merged network could then compete with Eircom, though the “financial and strategic case” for bringing that company back under State control would be examined.
Deals would be struck with private telecom companies to share fibre-optic cables into people’s homes. Broadband 21 would spend €2.5 billion to guarantee 50MB high-speed internet to 90 per cent of the population by 2013.
Some State assets would be sold off – Bord Gais and “possibly” ESB International and Aer Rianta International would be the most likely to go in the first round of sell-offs.
“Fine Gael will not repeat the mistake of Eircom by selling critical infrastructures that are strategic to national economic development. Sales will only take place when market conditions are attractive and when the necessary regulatory and competitive conditions are in place to protect consumer interests,” says the document.
Among the proposals in the document are that:
* The ESB would lose control of low and medium-voltage lines to a new company, Smartgrid, which would invest €3.3 billion more on new infrastructure.
* Smart meters would be installed in every home by 2013, thus allowing homeowners to curb electricity use and sell power generated from solar panels and other sources back into the system.
Investment in renewable energy would save much of the €6 billion Ireland currently spends on imported fossil fuels.
* Ten bioethanol and biodiesel plants would be built by a new agency, BioEnergy Ireland, created from the merger of Bord na Móna, Coillte, and a forestry research body.
* Twenty thousand hectares of trees would be planted annually to provide raw materials for the plants, thus creating 5,000 jobs.
Reacting to the document yesterday, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said many of the proposals “replicate” the Government’s Smart Economy document published last December, particularly in green energy and technology.
But he questioned “the sustainability” about some of FG’s ideas, particularly expressing reservations about the wisdom of setting up new State agencies when the Government wants to cut existing numbers.
Fine Gael's economic proposals:
* Change National Pension Fund rules to let Government invest in new State bodies.
* A new body, Irish Water, would take over control of spending on water services from 34 local authorities.
* Produce 50 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020.
* Use renewably-generated electricity to pump water to reservoirs to create electricity in times when winds are low.
* Force the upgrade of all septic tanks by 2015 to prevent pollution and fix leaking pipes.
* Phase out the sale of diesel in 2013 and replace it completely two years later by bio-diesel.
* Spend more on power lines to carry renewably-generated electricity from the west to urban areas.
