‘Political risk’ fear led to cuts in capital spend

After the crash, current spending was protected at expense of infrastructure budget, memo reveals

The last government decided to slash infrastructure spending to avoid the ‘much higher political risk’ of cutting day-to-day spending on public services.

Cabinet memos obtained by The Sunday Business Post show that capital spending cuts went from €400 million to €755 million in the first budget of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition in 2011.

Then public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin warned fellow ministers in a secret memo at the time that this was necessary ...