The Government has published the new National Development Plan.
It includes a commitment to invest €21 billion in social and affordable housing over the next seven years.
This will allow for the provision of 60,000 new local authority houses over the period of the plan as well as another 17,000 affordable homes.
The Government claims this will benefit 140,000 households over the next seven years.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that the scale of funding in the new NDP was something which until recently was unimaginable.
Mr Ahern said the measures went towards maintaining and improving Ireland's position as a 'respected openly trading, economy and society' on the global stage.
The plan includes a commitment to invest €5 billion in health infrastructure.
Another €12 billion of spending goes towards children's programmes including childcare, welfare and protection, and special needs education.
In addition almost €20 billion is assigned for investment in services for people with disabilities.
€5 billion is to be invested in school modernisation and development, and €13 billion will go towards the improvement of third level facilities.
Ambitious plan
The Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, said the plan was a roadmap for sustainable economic expansion and better quality of life for everyone over the next seven years and beyond.
Mr Cowen said earlier that the plan was 'very ambitious' and unlike any previous plans because the challenges facing the economy now are different.
He said that the country is going through an intensification of economic and social change and that there is no room for complacency.
Infrastructure bottlenecks need to be tackled and quality of life needs to be improved for everyone, he said.
Mr Cowen added that Ireland needs better transportation and more balanced regional development, and improved social cohesion measures.
The minister said that on a like-for-like basis the new plan will put about €2 billion per year more into the economy than an earlier version analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute.
He also said that the infrastructure improvements in the plan were important necessary work that may not be achieved if the Government were to delay doing it.
The minister said that the country has experienced higher incomes and that public wealth in things like roads, schools and hospitals now had to be improved.
