State investment in public infrastructure must be substantially increased to make up for lost ground and ensure future social and economic development, according to a new report by the independent progressive think-tank, TASC. The report was published in conjunction with Engineers Ireland.

The analysis by Paul Sweeney, chair of TASC’s Economists’ Network, makes the case for substantially increased State spending to compensate for underinvestment in public infrastructure in recent years.

The report, A Time for Ambition: Ensuring prosperity through investment, suggests Exchequer funding of €42bn in the years to 2021. This level of investment is €15bn more than the €27bn spend projected in the government’s six year capital and infrastructure plan released earlier this year.

Mr Sweeney said “Ireland has been under-investing in public infrastructure in recent years, exchequer investment fell to its lowest level in 50 years in 2013. Investment in infrastructure is vitally important because it underpins economic and social development and ensures future progress. This report shows that public investment can be difficult to get right both fiscally and because of various EU rules."

He added that a recent IMF study on public investment found that, for every €1m invested, there is a rapid return of €2m. "When there is a high loss of potential output, as Ireland has suffered, the returns on infrastructural investment are high," he said.

The key institutional reforms suggested in his report include:

• The establishment of an Infrastructural Commission, which would bring much needed long-term planning back into government policy.
• The adoption by the EU and each Member State of a ‘Golden Rule’ of minimum infrastructural investment by governments.