If you were in charge of the 13 Billion windfall for Ireland what would you use it for?

saabsaab

So you have sole charge of the use of 'our' 13 Bn from the EU judgement what will you do with it?

Pay down some of the National Debt?

Build another Hospital?

Build houses?

Build windfarms?

Give it back to taxpayers?

Use it to pump water from the Shannon to Dublin?

Use it for more gardaí, defence forces upgrades prisons?

drury..

It won't have any effect presumably

Sum involved is small overall

Deregos.

I'd divide it equally so everyone over 18 in Ireland gets an equal slice of the pie . .

How much would that be each? (don't know how to do the maths on that one).

zell12

Buy votes, to ensure I and me pals get elected next time

mickdw

Somewhere over €3000 for every adult, assuming roughly 4 million adults in the country

RobbingBandit

Build a THUNDERDOME for any and all disputes to be settled by hand to hand combat TO THE DEATH!!!

drury..

Windfall bonus might be as good as anything

StrawbsM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605781#Comment_122605781

There’s approx 3.66 million people over 25 based on 2023 CSO data so just under 4,100 euro each 😂

15,000,000,000 / 3,660,000

Busman Paddy Lasty

Use it to pump water from the Shannon to treatment plant at Birdhill in Limerick.

ELM327

38,806 bike sheds.

Ash.J.Williams

I'd build a wall of death

cycling is fun

I would use it to built bike sheds around Ireland they are very expensive at over 300000 a go. 😄

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605819#Comment_122605819

Wouldn't that just drive inflation even further? What about something that would give us a return into the future?

saabsaab

Or another Children's hospital?

MrMusician18

Debt reduction, sovereign wealth fund or fund a piece of expensive but overdue infrastructure, like the Dublin metro.

breezy1985

Monorail.

Photobox

…..

magicbastarder

Buy Louth, depopulate it, turn it into a wildlife park and reintroduce wolves.

fliball123

Only fair thing is to pay off the national debt we all know if politicians are left in charge it will be pished away. At least our borrowings will go down along with the amount of interest accumulating on it

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605881#Comment_122605881

Great idea. To where though?

Brussels Sprout

I think the biggest concern I would have about spending it now is stoking inflation. For that reason dividing it equally among the population would be a terrible idea.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605909#Comment_122605909

Well it won't make much of a dent in that and then it's gone forever.

saabsaab

How about using 10 Billion to buy Apple shares? Benefits the company, good investment for us into the future.

kirving

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but €13,000 Million doesn't go that far.

I'd split it between:

• 5B to Dublin Metro
• 3B to education infrastructure (ie: STEM labs in universities)
• 3B to High Speed Rail around the country
• 2B to development of high-rise business zones in city centres (which will help justify the rail above)

It won't cover all that but would kickstart them at least.

The issue with high speed rail right now though, is still two-fold.

1. We don't have enough people moving between cities to justify 30 minute intervals. Even if we did, the speed advantage over just 250km vs a car is small.
2. When you get to your destination, urban sprawl and one-off housing means that you still need a car to get to your destination in most cases.

But… Build it and they will come.

For Forks Sake

For context, €13bn is 6 months worth of Social Protection spend

Astartes

Railway to the airport

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605963#Comment_122605963

All airports?

Pauliedragon

Coke and hookers. Like the good old Celtic tiger days.

celtic_oz

Set up a state owned wind company and harvest the massive wind resource off the west coast. Build more* interconnector's to the likes of Norway, France and the UK to ensure availability and to sell the power.

For once the state could own a serious income generating resource, and at the same time move away from imported fossil fuels.

Instead of gving out small handouts to everyone, we could have the cheapest electricity in Europe forever.

*The Celtic Interconnector is a 700 MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine power cable under construction between the southern coast of Ireland and the north-west coast of France.[1] It will be the first such interconnector between the two countries.

Trial operation is planned to commence in 2026.[2]

The director general of EirGrid stated in 2022 that the interconnector was arguably "the most important Irish infrastructure project for this decade".[3]

An Irish statoil equivalent.

NSAman

Monorail! Dublin HAS to have a Monorail!

Get Real

Ignore it. Continue spending as normal, stick to projects and follow through with them such as Metro etc.

Put this 13bn in a Sovereign Wealth fund.

Add a few billion to to it every year. Even if it wasn't added to, it'd generate c.700 million a year alone based on a 5%avg return.

In 30years, with compound interest, it could be worth 60bn. Use the interest after that to fund things on a regular basis. Pensions. Or transport. Just a massive investment fund that pays the country to do the extras. Rather than spending it now on 1 extra thing and have it gone.

It wouldn't lead to immediate inflation. And during recessions, money could be released from it to bolster unemployment payments, or keep services where there would have been cuts otherwise.

Would benefit the whole population and subsequent generations on a long term basis.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605992#Comment_122605992

Not just Dublin. Cork and Galway too.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605976#Comment_122605976

A nationwide bunga bunga party.

Firblog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606001#Comment_122606001

Didn't they lose money while 'managing' the 13bn (14.3bn) while it was in escrow? Didn't even keep up with inflation?

At that rate in 30 years it'd be worth bugger all

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606020#Comment_122606020

How would they do in the next election?

pummice

I would use some of it anyway to build sewage treatment plants all over the country. Its disgraceful whats flowing into our rivers and seas. The Romans had probably better facilities

mikeecho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605909#Comment_122605909

The national debt is €223 Billion

That €13B won't make much difference to it.

taratee

I'd pay down some of the national debt (€6bn) and I'd invest the rest of it in infrastructure (€7bn). We need to start chipping away at our national debt.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606001#Comment_122606001

If it's one for everyone in the audience it will fuel inflation and be spread too thinly to make a lasting difference to anyone. Many won't agree with that though. Maybe target it to a sector with potential or where it would make a big impact, say Athlone or a similar size city?

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606060#Comment_122606060

…and again, national debt isnt necessarily a bad thing, but it does depend what that debt is used for, bailing out highly questionable activities probably isnt a great way of using such debt, but investing debt into critical needs, such as critical long term infrastructure needs, probably is a good use…

…also noting, national debt is commonly rolled over long term, in some cases for over a century, so paying it down, is generally, a kinna stupid idea, as over the long term, it can just be inflated away, with little or no consequences…..

…jebus, conservatives!

Exiled1

Build 12000+ apartments for student accommodation in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway. This would help two problems, the chronic issue of pricey student accommodation and it would increase rental stock in each city.

Sorry, Sligo, Athlone etc…. I would not spread it farther as its overall effectiveness would diminish.

fliball123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122605933#Comment_122605933

as apposed to spending it on bike sheds and 2 billion euro hospitals no thanks better to get the debt down and try and alleviate our outgoings for future and current generation anything else will see a proportion of the population gain.

BagofWeed

I'd squander it on stuff that doesn't benefit the people as that's what will be done with it anyway. Go away with your metro or any of that fancy stuff, public transport won't benefit millionaires and they are the people that matter.

csirl

Unless its ringfenced for a particular project, it will be flittered away.

Use it to start building a metro - not just the single line to the airport, but to kickstart the construction of a network.

Sam Russell

We have a country with a current population of 5.5 million or so. We also have a country with infrastructure adequate for a population of 3.5 million - the huge level of immigration took us all by surprise.

So allocate the money towards addressing that, but €13 billion is not much to do so much.

Metrolink, ML II to run SW to NE of Dublin. Cork needs Luas and suburban Dart. That would account for most of it, but we need hospitals - notably a National Maternity Hospital plus extra beds in most of the major acute hospitals. We also need stepdown beds, and nursing homes.

We also need apprentices, and more targeted education to build the skills required for the future. Not every school leaver should go to university, but the alternatives should be available.

What we do not need is extra social welfare, or any form of one for everyone in the audience.

Kurooi

That kind of money, I'd be talking about at least 4 bike sheds.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606891#Comment_122606891

I was talking to a senior civil servant and it was pointed out the failure of the tender system used for public procurement when no-one wants the job.

Let us say a tender is put out for project that looks like a pain. Only one submission is made with a joke high price and they get the gig.

Well, that explains the bike shed.

Kurooi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606922#Comment_122606922

That's awful mismanagement. Criminal. They would never be this stupid with their own money. Any corporation would fire and end your career for approving that spend.

Shoog

Mental health services - every penny. God we need it and that amount would really make an impact.

Sam Russell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606940#Comment_122606940

Well, large corporations and large Gov are just as guilty of such stupidity, and some on a monumental scale.

Berlin built an airport - the Brandenburg Airport that never opened. A huge folly. I am sure there are many other examples.

The real question is whether the high cost was inefficiency or corruption.

Kurooi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122606971#Comment_122606971

Misuse of public funds either way, honestly I'd hope it was corruption because the alternative, the level of feckless negligence required, is inconceivable.