The government is set to announce an economic stimulus plan worth up to €1 billion in the coming weeks. Funding for the scheme will come from the sales of the National Lottery and Bord Gais Energy as well as potentially through Irish Water.

The government can used, as part of an agreement with the Troika, up to 50% of that money as part of a job creation strategy.

The coalition will be hoping to create thousands of jobs in the scheme but no new projects will be unveiled.

Instead plans that have been in the pipeline for areas like roads, health and education will benefit from the cash boost.

There is also likely to be allocation of money to repair damage caused by recent storms of some €50 to €60 million.

School building and refurbishment is also likely to be included in the plan, as well as possible spending on third-level infrastructure, which has been ignored since the economic crash.

Transport - especially regional and local roads - will also see cash coming their way. It is thought that Transport Minister Leo Varadkar and Minister of State at the Department of Transport Alan Kelly are keen to allocate some of the money to public transport.

Newstalk's Political Editor Shane Coleman explained to Breakfast how the timing for the announcement was worked out.