Thomas Gould
Question:6. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he will provide an update on the Glashaboy flood relief scheme. [22063/23]
Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions
Flood Risk Management
Pádraig O'Sullivan
Question:25. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he will provide a further update on the Glashaboy flood relief scheme; if he can provide a timeline as to when it is likely to go to tender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21895/23]
Colm Burke
Question:44. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if a decision has now been made in respect of the wording of the contract for the Glashaboy flood relief scheme; if he will outline the date when work will commence on the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22084/23]
Will the Minister of State provide an update on the Glashaboy flood relief scheme for Glanmire, please?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 25 and 44 together.
I am pleased to provide an update on the progression of the Glashaboy flood relief scheme at Glanmire-Sallybrook, in Cork. I am advised that the scheme is being progressed by Cork City Council. The OPW, in partnership with the council, is engaging proactively to progress the flood relief scheme for Glanmire.
The Glashaboy flood relief scheme was confirmed in January 2021 by the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 to 1995 and is being funded from the €1.3 billion in flood relief measures under the national development plan to 2030, and as part of Project Ireland 2040. The scheme will provide protection to some 103 properties, 78 residential and 25 commercial. It will address the flood risk in a number of locations in the area and will include defences such as walls and embankments, culvert upgrades, channel widening and road regrading. An invitation to tender for the civil works contract was issued on 23 January 2023 with a return date of 13 March 2023. Tenders have now been returned and the process of assessment is under way. Cork City Council intend to award the contract in quarter 2 of this year to allow construction works to commence in the middle of this year.
In January of this year after the contracts went to tender for the Glashaboy flood relief works, a commitment was given that construction would start in June. The Minister has said it will be quarter 2 of this year before the contracts are signed and that the work will start before year-end. The people of Glanmire are sick and tired of broken promises from this Government and previous Governments in respect of the protection of their communities. This project has met delay after delay. I recently led a campaign in the area and spoke to homeowners and business owners who are affected by the floods. Their frustration is beyond belief. This flooding can be resolved. This is not a big project, it is a small project but it needs to happen now. One of the main concerns I have about the proposal is that there has been traffic chaos in Glanmire because of works done recently. This work should have been done at the same time. What we are going to see now is more traffic chaos in Glanmire-----
The Deputy will get a chance to come back in.
We were here a few months ago seeking the latest update on this project. I have no doubt we will be here again looking for further updates the next time the Minister of State is taking questions in the Chamber. We welcome the update he has provided. People are getting frustrated. Their frustration does not necessarily stem from the process. The process is the process and it has to happen. There are various legal processes that have to happen. There were issues with the tender and it had to be readvertised. We understand all that. There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there and it needs to be called out.
Absolutely.
The Government is going to deliver this scheme. Fair enough, we might all wish that it had happened many months sooner, but this scheme is going to be delivered. I would welcome it if the Minister of State could give reassurance to people. I was listening to his discussion with Deputy Conway-Walsh earlier. Obviously, there are difficulties in other parts of the country with OPW schemes. I ask the Minister of State to reaffirm the commitment that this will be delivered on time.
I welcome the Minister of State's comments. One of the problems we have now in respect of the tendering process is the long period from when the tenders come in to when they are signed off on. That has happened on quite a number of projects over recent years and costs continue to rise. It is really important that there is no further delay in awarding the contract. After that, the timescale must be short for the person who is awarded the contract to accept it and say they are signing off on it and are going to commence the project. Given that costs have risen substantially over the last 18 months, I am wondering whether the process we now have for contracts can be reviewed to provide a faster response in giving decisions and starting the projects when the contracts are awarded.
On the last point, and going back to Deputy Conway-Walsh's remarks about the public spending code and delivery of capital projects, this is an example of it. We are not the tendering authority here. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan is absolutely right that there is a huge amount of misinformation here. I would love to know exactly what delay the Government has put in place to prevent this scheme. I am not aware of any delay that the OPW has put in place. Deputy Gould might be able to enlighten me.
I will.
I would be delighted to hear that. We are not the contracting authority, in case it escaped the Deputy's knowledge. It is a matter for Cork City Council. In the first instance, Cork City Council's tendering process collapsed because a tenderer had to withdraw. I do not know if the Deputy would advocate for having no tendering process. Maybe he wants a cheque to be written to whoever is the preferred person locally. In his world he might be able to do that but in the world of accountability, governance and oversight, for which Deputy Conway-Walsh, as her party's spokesperson, will hold me to account, that cannot happen.
The Minister of State talks about misinformation. I will give him the truth. In 2016, this work was to be carried out at a cost of €8 million. Now the work is being tendered for an expected €17 million. The cost is actually criminal. It is because of the Government's mismanagement, doddering and failure to deliver flood relief for Glanmire. Not alone has it doubled in value; we also have the many times Glanmire has flooded or been at risk of flooding because the Government has failed. The Minister of State should not tell me about misinformation. He should go down to the people of Glanmire and invite my colleagues, who know well what is happening, along to see the businesses and homes that were destroyed and have no insurance. I have been in Glanmire three times in the last six months when it was on the edge of flooding, when water came up through drains and the fire brigade had to come out and bring in pumping stations. There is no misinformation. I know what I am saying.
It must be said that the Minister of State himself did come on-site a number of months ago, just as the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, did before him, and that has to be welcomed. Both of them reiterated on site to the people they met that day, residents and businesses, that money is not an issue. The issues concerned the process that was being undertaken initially and then, subsequently, the tender. The rules and regulations are there and need to be respected. Deputy Colm Burke makes one valid point. We are literally at the finish line now in delivering this project. It is about getting it over the line. If we can maximise or optimise those little time lags between the city council and the contractor going into the next few months as the tender is finalised, cutting those couple of weeks or months might give people great reassurance that the scheme is actually going ahead. If they see works taking place later this year, that is the most reassurance we can give them.
In fairness, I think everything has been done by the Department. As the Minister of State outlined, the matter comes under the remit of Cork City Council. We must make sure that a timely decision is made by the council to award the contract and that the person who gets it accepts it in a timely manner in order that we will not have to go back out to tender at a later stage.
This is a vital project for the Glanmire area. Very little has happened there because of the wait for the scheme to be put in place. We and the city council need to give priority to signing off on a contract and then getting the work itself done.
In the context of general flood relief schemes nationally, another scheme the Minister of State is more than aware of and has been exceptionally supportive of is the south Galway Gort lowlands flood relief scheme. The scheme is encountering a major problem because Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, constructed a motorway right through the heart of the region affected and did not build sufficient capacity into the culverts under the motorway. That now has the potential to derail the whole process. The costs associated with remedying this problem with the motorway will become part of the issue for the overall cost-benefit analysis. I therefore encourage the Minister of State and his officials to engage directly with TII to have this issue resolved and to ensure TII accepts full responsibility for the lack of capacity in these culverts and covers the cost of making them sufficiently large so as not to cause flooding in the region.
When will the capital works management framework be published? It began in March 2019. It is beyond urgent that it be published to bring clarity to much of what we are talking about.
I will get a response directly from the Minister's office to Deputy Conway-Walsh.
On the scheme Deputy Cannon raised, it is my intention to go to Galway shortly to meet the county council in respect of this. I have been there a number of times already in respect of other schemes and I must say the county council is to the fore in delivering an awful lot to the schemes.
On the question that was asked here, I am not interested in dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi; I can only go on the basis of what actually happened. What happened was that in 2020, as part of the Minister's consideration, further additional information was requested on the Glashaboy scheme on 5 May. Subsequent to that, a tender collapsed and had to be readvertised by Cork City Council. I have been down to Glanmire and met the community and residents there. I have every confidence in the city council to deliver the scheme, as I have every confidence in the council to deliver the badly needed Morrison’s Island scheme, which we are delivering, as well as the wider Cork city flood relief scheme, which will go from Cork Harbour all the way back to Ballincollig. I hope everybody in this House will be as supportive of those schemes in Cork as they are here. By the way, I do not need a postcard campaign, which has gone down really badly in the local community because the community knows the OPW and the city council are on their side. We do not need a postcard campaign that is attempting to drum up unnecessary worry and anxiety for people who are already worried and anxious about their futures.
Question No. 7 taken with Written Answers.
Departmental Reports
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he has read the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, IGEES, housing analytical notes published on 5 December 2022, particularly the Planning Permissions and Housing Supply analytical note; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22159/23]
The Department's IGEES unit produced a report on planning permissions and housing supply at the end of last year. The evidence it provides directly counters the Government's narrative about planning. The Government says again and again the problem is too many planning objections and that is why we cannot ramp up housing supply. The Department has produced a document that says that is absolutely not the case and identifies land banking, speculation and viability issues as the problem. Has the Minister of State any comment on that? Has he relayed these findings to his colleagues in Government?
I thank the Deputy for raising this important question. Housing policy is written by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and his Department. IGEES staff in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform carry out research in a broad range of areas affecting expenditure. While this informs the evidence base provided by officials in ministerial briefings, housing policy is developed and implemented by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The IGEES is an integrated, cross-Government service that seeks to enhance the role of analysis and evidence in public policymaking. The two housing analytical notes published last December are independent pieces of research conducted by IGEES staff in the Department. IGEES staff in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform regularly undertake research and produce papers and analytical notes to contribute to the evidence base. These are used in policy discussions and dialogue with other Departments and to support informed policymaking.
The Planning Permissions and Housing Supply analytical note seeks to broaden the evidence base underpinning the planning process by examining refusal rates, decision timing and planning appeals using available data. It also discusses the relationship between planning permissions and recent trends in housing supply more broadly by drawing on the available data, as well as the existing research and literature on this topic. A key finding from this research highlights the need for improved quality of planning data and for further research to be conducted to provide clear insights on the planning process and impacts on commencements and delivery.
The second housing analytical note, Review of the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, 2018-2021, examines the activity and take-up of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, which has now been replaced by the local authority home loan. The findings highlighted the strong demand for the scheme and also demonstrated the important role it has played in supporting 2,629 home purchases for lower-income earners between February 2018 and December 2021. A further 5,442 received approval in principle.
All the work carried out by IGEES within the Department forms the evidence base officials use to inform the Minister prior to any meetings he attends, such as Cabinet committee meetings, and policy discussions he engages in. Research and findings such as those seen in the two housing analytical notes form part of the briefings he has received to date on housing-related matters.
The Minister of State has not answered the question. Does the Minister pass on the information his Department gathers to the people who develop housing policy? The Minister of State gave an interesting summary of the document, which I am beginning to suspect he has not read. The Minister of State said the document says we need more documents with more data. That is not what it says. It mentions that and says more study would be useful, but what the document actually says is 85% of all planning applications are granted. In rural Ireland the proportion granted is more like 90% to 95%, but almost everywhere it is over 70% and is usually 80%. The note says there are loads of planning permissions given for apartments and houses, but they are not commenced. The document's authors say they are not exactly sure why that is, though it is definitely not to do with planning objections. They say it is probably to do with land banking, speculation and viability issues.
Whatever about me reading it, I do not know whether the Deputy listened to me. I will read it out again. The IGEES is an integrated, cross-Government service that seeks to enhance the role of analysis and evidence in public policymaking. It is a cross-Government service, which means there is more than one Department involved in it. I also said it informs the Minister's engagements and meeting, including Cabinet meetings.
On what the Deputy said about planning permissions, it is important to point out that the report states:
Counties in the [greater Dublin area] GDA and those containing large urban centres, tended to have higher refusal rates. Refusal rates across [local authorities] LAs ranged from 37% in Kildare to 4% in Tipperary.
A 37% rate is a large amount of refusals in the context of the total number of housing units needed. Some people in this House make a virtue of objecting to planning permissions and they need to take a look at themselves and maybe at their political ideologies if they are saying a person cannot build a private house on private land and make profit. I have been at the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for seven years in three different roles and have been here for all the oral questions. The mantra does not change from the Deputy's side and it indicates his philosophical and ideological opposition to people building their own houses.
Again, the Minister of State really should read the report, because it says the grant rate for single dwellings is much higher and it is especially so in rural Ireland. It is almost over 90%. Thus, the mantra that planning objectors are slowing down applications for single dwellings in rural Ireland is just not true. Even in areas with the highest refusal rates the grant rate is 70% and usually 80%. The researchers then ask how there is planning permission for 42,000 apartments in Dublin, with that figure constantly rising, but there are only about 4,000 to 5,000 being built. The researchers say it is likely because people are getting planning permission to increase the value of their assets and speculating on the value of those assets and that they are banking land. The Government does nothing about that but its members keep on jumping up and down about planning.
As someone who represents one of those rural counties the Deputy seems to have such a knowledge of-----
It is in your report.
The number of houses that are granted planning permission on a once-off basis is tiny, relative to what is needed. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Deputy Conway-Walsh will know what I am talking about here. The number of one-off houses in rural areas, compared with schemes of houses that are built, is minuscule. Naturally enough, the refusal rate will be smaller but the overall refusal rate for planning permission stands at 15%. In the context of apartments, which the Deputy mentioned, the number of completed apartments has grown from 2,258 in 2018 to more than 5,000 in 2021 and the other data will be available for 2022 shortly. Progress is being made in this area. I know the Deputy has an ideological opposition to what we are trying to do. He annunciates it every time, it never changes and I appreciate that.
Departmental Consultations
Marc Ó Cathasaigh
Question:9. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the steps his Department is taking to progress Ireland's open government national action plan 2023-2025 following the public consultation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21384/23]
We recently had a public call for submissions on Ireland's fourth open government national action plan under four thematic areas: transparency and accountability in public office; citizen decision-making; public access to Government data; and strengthening public trust in Government. I want to ask about the follow-up steps we are taking, how we will implement those and when we are likely to see an action plan issue from the end of that process.
I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, who is out of the country as well. As part of the programme for Government, Ireland is committed to re-energising its Open Government Partnership, OGP, process. The OGP aims to secure concrete commitments from governments across the world to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Member countries sign the OGP declaration and participate in its processes to advance the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation. A key element of the partnership is the co-creation and monitoring of commitments by Government with civil society representatives.
During 2021, the Department established Ireland's Open Government Partnership round table, made up of representatives from the public service and from civil society. This round table works collaboratively to ensure a consistent, value-adding and meaningful approach to the co-creation of national action plans, containing concrete commitments advancing the OGP agenda, and monitoring their subsequent implementation. Commitments contained in open government national action plans are prepared for agreement by Government after consultation by the round table with civil society, citizens and policy owners from Government Departments and public bodies.
On 8 March this year, the Department launched a public consultation to encourage members of the public and civil society organisations to submit their ideas for Ireland’s fourth open government national action plan. The round table identified four key thematic areas: transparency; participative democracy; public access to government data; and strengthening public trust.
I mention the OECD better life initiative, which closely shadows what our well-being indices will look like here. Under that initiative it is the civic engagement score that we rank lowest on. For some reason Irish people feel quite distant from their Government and I suspect that is to do with the under-empowering of local government for a number of years. That needs to be remediated, particularly when we look at the societal challenges we are facing. We need to be able to better engage with the populace to better explain our decisions, to have better public feed-in and to have a participative democracy element. I have a slight and nagging concern that we do these open calls for submissions but I would like a sense of where those submissions are going and how they are informing what the final plan will look like. I would also like to have a sense of when we are likely to see that final plan.
In the last Government I was a Minister of State with responsibility for the OGP. In the context of the round table established in 2021, some of its members include the Open Government Association Ireland; Digital Rights Ireland; the Kildare Public Participation Network, PPN, representing all the PPNs; the Think-tank for Action on Social Change; the Wheel; Irish Rural Link; the Change Agency; and Innovate Communities. There are a number of public sector bodies as well.
This is on top of the work being done, for instance, in the citizens' assemblies and the PPNs, together with the work of the strategic policy committees in our local authorities, which the Deputy will be familiar with in his county. I mention also the work of our Oireachtas committees in bringing in groups from outside to give views. The citizens' assembly model has led on this but it ultimately comes back to the Oireachtas to make sure that level of engagement can be fostered on a continuing basis. There is possibly a role, for instance, for the Seanad. It has done an awful lot of work on this. I do not want to speak for the Seanad as I am not a Senator but in that context there is a greater level of positioning that the other House might possibly be able to take up on this.
The Minister of State specifically referred to the citizens' assemblies and I was going to reference them. That is a great model of participative and deliberative democracy but we need to see that transformed into action. We need to have some sort of process whereby recommendations of citizens' assemblies are put in place. We ask these 99 citizens to give of their time and they generally produce outstanding recommendations, but we need to have a way of making sure those do not sit on the shelf. Those other traditional avenues, include planning, have been cited. We need to rebuild people's trust in a planning system which is seen as not fit for purpose. We do not want to legislate for a situation where we lessen people's voices within that structure.
I would like to float the following idea with the Minister of State. In Denmark they have a festival of democracy, which is a lovely idea. They simply have a festival that is much like Electric Picnic but without the bands. It might suit people of my age category with nice early nights and quiet nights in. It is something that would map quite well to the Irish context and something we should look at.
The citizens' assemblies have helped in no small way to inform change that has come about in this country in recent years. Oftentimes people are accused of being behind the public on a number of different issues but the citizens' assemblies have informed debate and they are an important part of democracy. It is my intention as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works to meet the chairperson of the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss as soon as possible to reflect on the findings of that gathering and the work it did because the Department I head up has a massive impact in the land we own and the responsibilities we have. That goes back to questions that have been raised by Deputies Conway-Walsh, Colm Burke, Canney and others on the work we do.
I will refer the Deputy's question on a party or festival on to the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. One of the enlightening ideas there has been in recent years is the advent of the summer schools, which can be thematic. Maybe the local authorities and PPNs could be supported to a greater extent and their remit and the context in which they discuss issues could be widened.
Housing Policy
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:10. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he has relayed to the Government the findings in the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, IGEES, publication, Housing Analytical Notes, published on 5 December 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22158/23]
By the luck of the lottery I get a second chance to ask the Minister of State about this report.
At least one of us is lucky.
Exactly. The big phenomenon the report identifies is uncommenced apartments. It states that the number of apartment complexes that are getting planning permission way exceeds the number that are built. What is the Government going to do about that?
Housing policy is written for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. IGEES staff in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform carry out research in a broad range of areas affecting expenditure. While this informs the evidence base that is provided by officials in ministerial briefings, housing policy is developed and implemented within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. IGEES is an integrated cross-government service which seeks to enhance the role of analysis and evidence-based policymaking. The two housing analytical notes published last December are independent pieces of research conducted by IGEES staff in the Department. IGEES staff in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform regularly undertake research, producing papers, as I have said already.
The planning permissions and housing supply note seek to broaden the evidence base underpinning the planning process by examining refusal rates, decision times and planning appeals using available data. It also discusses the relationship between planning permission and recent trends in housing supply more broadly, drawing on the available data, as well as the existing research and literature on the topic. A key finding from the research highlights the need for the improved quality of planning data and for further research to be conducted to provide clear insights on the planning process and impacts on commencements and delivery.
The second housing analytical note examines the activity and take-up of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, as I have already said. The findings highlighted the strong demand that is there. All of the work carried out by IGEES within the Department forms the evidence base which officials use to brief the Minister. All papers are publicly available and published on the IGEES website. Any member of Government or the public can view this research and its findings. Going back to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh's point, the Minister fully supports the transparency that allows members of the public, stakeholders and the Government colleagues to access the pieces of research and analysis carried out on his behalf.
All research and analysis papers prepared by IGEES, including work prepared by staff in the Department, while used to inform policymakers, are independent and do not necessarily represent the ministerial policy view or the position of the Department or the Government. This independence is an important pillar in its contribution to evidence-based policymaking.
The Minister of State has just read out the same note he read out ten minutes ago.
The Deputy asked the same question.
No, I did not. The transcript will show that I am trying to develop the argument while the Minister of State is just stonewalling because he does not want to acknowledge the fundamental point. This is evidence. It is not just someone's opinion or a political policy; it is evidence produced by the Minister of State's Department. What it shows is that there is no problem getting planning permission for housing or apartments, that the number of planning permissions far exceeds the number of completions by a multiple of factors and that planning objections are not a problem. It also says what probably is the problem where it notes that "un-commenced permitted units could indicate the speculative purchasing and holding of land with a view to greater future resale value", that planning permissions may be being acquired to hold as assets and that "acquiring permission for apartment development, rather than housing developments, could be the most attractive option for speculative land holders and thus yield the most amount of value added upon resale." That is what the Minister of State's Department thinks is happening. What does the Minister of State think about that?
I think that the most important line in the first reply I read out to the Deputy is in the last part. By the way, it was not the same reply both times because the questions were different. It is a pity they were not grouped together because it would have avoided my having to stand up a second time.
I would say it is fortuitous.
Well, maybe. The most important line is that referring to independence as a pillar in the unit's contribution to evidence-based policymaking. It is almost like the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. It provides evidence and, sometimes, contrarian views but, ultimately, it is for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to make a determination with regard to housing policy. The Deputy tells me that planning objections really do not make a difference. Every day during Leaders' Questions, week in, week out, we have heard about planning objections, including some in the Deputy's own constituency, being made on ideological bases. If the Deputy is telling me that planning objections have no impact on the delivery of housing in his area or across Dublin-----
The Minister of State's Department said that.
In the real world, planning objections make a difference and ultimately prevent people from getting on with the job of delivering the housing we all want.
In other words, the Minister of State's Department completely ignores the data it collects and the analysis it carries out. The Minister of State continues to trot out mantras without the slightest evidence. I am afraid the evidence produced by his Department shows there is no problem with planning permission. The number of planning permissions being granted is increasing dramatically, it far exceeds the number of completions and the number of refusals is a tiny proportion of that figure. The Minister of State made a point about rural Ireland earlier. Let us take Longford as an example. The refusal rate is 10% from a total of 1,747 applications. In fact, there were more planning applications in Longford than there were in most Dublin local authority areas, so not even the Minister of State's point on urban and rural areas is correct. It is just not true but he keeps saying it. If IGEES believes speculators are really the ones determining things, then the Government's policy is simply articulating the views of the speculators.
In fairness to him, the Deputy gets away with a lot of things in here but to compare the planning processes in train in Longford to those in Dublin, where the majority-----
It is not me. This is the Minister of State's Department's report.
Will the Deputy let me finish? I imagine the majority of planning applications in Longford are for one-off houses or small schemes. The Deputy is comparing bananas to pineapples. There is no comparison. Let us look at the greater Dublin area, although I know the Deputy did not want to refer to this. The report states:
Counties in the [greater Dublin area], and those containing large urban centres, tended to have higher refusal rates. Refusal rates across [local authority areas] ranged from 37% in Kildare to 4% in Tipperary.
I will not go through the data but County Tipperary is my neighbouring county and I imagine the vast majority of planning applications in that county are for one-off houses. If the Deputy thinks the housing situation in Dublin can be solved with one-off houses, he is deluded. The overall rate of refusal across all areas covered by the report is 15%. The Deputy says that is a tiny number. It is an enormous number when one considers that it is 15% of planning applications not 15% of proposed units. The Deputy is proficient in submitting objections. The number of units being objected to is enormous.
It is sort of-----
We are finished.
Deputies get two bites, not three.
The Deputy got four bites.
It rests with the Department to group questions.
Shared Services
Neasa Hourigan
Question:11. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he will outline a timeline, completion date and cost to the State of the financial management shared services project by the National Shared Services Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21316/23]
Will the Minister of State outline the timeline, completion date and cost to the State of the financial management shared services project of the National Shared Services Office?
I am taking this question for the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. The delivery of the financial management shared services centre and programme was approved by the Government in 2020 with an indicative timeline through 2025 and assigned a budget of €115 million. The programme plays a central role in the delivery of the Civil Service renewal programme and represents one of the largest transformations of financial management for central government in recent times.
The programme moves all financial transaction processing and reporting for all of central government onto a new single financial management system run on the Oracle E-Business Suite. Fundamental to the transformation is the implementation of a single common chart of accounts and integrated standardised accounting processes across Government. The benefits of this new central accounting system and finance shared services are to include reform and modernisation of financial management practices and processes; the standardisation of accounting processes across central government, ensuring our compliance with existing and emerging international reporting and transparency requirements; support for EU and Government policy on e-invoicing, e-procurement and help to better manage suppliers and procurement expenditure; support for the professionalisation of finance teams across Government Departments, ensuring that all finance users are following standard best practice processes on a single system; and the replacement of over 30 disparate legacy financial and reporting systems.
This is a highly complex transformation programme which, when fully operational, will support some 50 central Government Departments and bodies, centralising all financial processing activity and delivering standardisation across financial reporting.
Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the programme went live in April 2022 with eight entities, including the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. The programme sees the National Shared Services Office, NSSO, launch its third service with finance shared services having now completed a full year in operation. As with all complex transformation projects, there have been challenges following implementation. In particular, the lessons the NSSO has learned from the first wave will be applied to enhance the next wave. All Departments have filed their year-end 2022 appropriation accounts within the required deadline. Engagement with the second wave of clients is under way and indicative timelines will be reviewed as part of this engagement.
I thank the Minister of State. To be clear, the first phase was started in April 2022 with eight bodies. In mid-2022, this House was told that phase 2 had begun, that it would include 15 bodies and that it should have been completed by the end of 2022. Will the Minister of State clarify whether we are still in phase 2? Has that begun? How far along is that phase? Have we started phase 3? We are looking to move 50 bodies by 2025, so if we are still only in phase 2, we are not even halfway. That would obviously be a concern. If possible, will the Minister of State provide some clarification on the funding? The original package was for €115 million. How much of that has been spent? What is the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform's projected cost for this project?
The Deputy asked for the names of the specific organisations that have already moved across and the timeframe in which others will move across. I will have to ask the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, to respond to her on those issues. With regard to the financial envelope, the Government decision I referred to provides for a capital envelope of €115 million. Of course, the final cost will not be known until the project is completed but the NSSO is making every effort to control the cost. I will get the Minister of State to revert to the Deputy on the specific bodies that have moved and the timeframes for movement.
If possible, special attention should be given to that costing because there obviously will be a projected cost. I understand that these are proprietary ICT programmes so it would be possible to know how much it is going to cost by 2025. It is a pretty medium-term range so I expect there is a number out there somewhere. I will flag for the Minister of State that a core element of the roll-out of the digital services - I am under the impression it sits under the digital scheme - and of Sláintecare is e-health records. In the last few weeks, we have all come to the conclusion, which is certainly supported by the evidence of officials from the Department of Health who came before the Oireachtas committee, that, because of an intervention on e-health from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, it is likely that e-health records will not be rolled out in this country until 2032. That Department requires that a link to the children's hospital be included in the business case.
Will the Department look at e-health record services in light of the commitment to digital services and remove that link from the children's hospital to the business case for e-health records? This would possibly remove two to four years and bring the completion date down from 2032 to 2027.
I will address the points the Deputy raised regarding the individual waves. Eight Departments or offices were part of wave 1 and the second wave will see a further 14 clients onboarded. On the timeframes, wave 2 Departments have started. Based on the expected timelines, it is hoped the second wave will go live in the latter part of 2024 or as soon as possible. On cost, some €73 million has been spent to date. The bulk of the development is conducted in the early stages of the programme. The expenditure includes all the licensing and the majority of the development to build the requirements for future waves and the migration of wave 1 clients. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, to revert to the Deputy regarding the timeframes for each one.
National Development Plan
Richard Bruton
Question:12. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if the recent patterns in demographic growth require a revision in the national development plan; and the key areas he has identified where additional investment in transformative changes or in capacity is required. [21546/23]
Everyone will agree that the world has changed dramatically in recent years. In that context, I will ask about the national development plan, NDP. Funding is not now a problem but there are huge capacity constraints. How does the Department plan for us to break out of the siloed thinking that has hampered much of our investment in the past?
As I said, I am taking these questions on behalf of the Minister. Project Ireland 2040 sets out the Government's overarching vision for the provision of infrastructure in order to better cater for the needs of the State’s existing population and to accommodate projected population increases in a balanced and sustainable way. Project Ireland 2040 includes the national planning framework, NPF, which sets out the overarching spatial strategy for the next 20 years, and the ten strategic outcomes, to provide a strategic framework for the selection and development of appropriate interventions to address infrastructure needs at a national, regional and local level.
Under the NPF, the three regional assemblies are now responsible for co-ordinating, promoting and supporting the strategic planning and sustainable development of their regions, consistent with the objectives of the NPF, through the preparation of regional spatial and economic strategies. These strategies help inform the targeting of public infrastructure investment at regional and local level. It is important to note that the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, includes in-built mechanisms to allow for regular revision and replacement of the NPF. Such revisions are relevant to reflect changing circumstances that have taken place since the NPF was published. The Act requires the Government to either revise, replace or state why the Government has decided not to revise every six years after the publication of the NPF. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage would be better placed to advise on the status of that.
The ten-year NDP has been put in place to underpin the implementation of the NPF and to support the development and meet the infrastructure needs of all counties and regions, including both urban and rural areas. The NDP contains expenditure commitments for a range of strategic investment priorities. The Department is responsible for publishing the NDP and jointly monitors its delivery. As part of the most recent update to the NDP, the Department co-ordinated the inputs from the relevant funding bodies and conducted supporting analysis. Within this framework, the funding Departments and agencies identify infrastructure needs relating to their own sectoral strategies and goals and prioritise projects accordingly. Therefore, it is up to each Department to decide how projects are best targeted to deliver for challenging and changing demographics from within the allocations up to 2030.
In short, the Department is saying, "God's in his heaven - All's right with the world!" I invite the Minister of State to challenge the thinking that lay behind that answer. The reality is we are seeing transformative change in the world we live in. There is a new expectation, for example, regarding offshore wind, or our capacity to build compact developments that do not just see takeaways for ten years before schools or childcare are developed. We have not got a strategy for exploiting broadband, which the Department opposed. We just heard from Deputy Hourigan how a fundamental block of using e-health is delayed. I invite the Minister of State to look at the infrastructural bottlenecks that are left, right and centre in every constituency across the country, including his, to see whether we can change the thinking within the Department.
To be honest, I do not disagree with anything the Deputy said. It goes back to the question raised by Deputy Conway-Walsh with respect to changes that have been made to the public spending code and the manner in which the gateways will change. As well as that, the Minister has made changes to the delivery of the NDP around the delivery board, which was the preserve of civil servants and Secretaries General until he took over the chairmanship of it. The Minister also brought outside people to that board, which is needed in the context of what the Deputy raised, to address areas that are suffering particular delays, either in planning or in getting through the public spending code or delivery of the capital. Everybody accepts it is not a money issue based on the amount of money being made available, namely, €165 billion over the period of 2021 to 2030. It is a leadership issue. The Minister, in the context of the changes he has brought about in the delivery board and the public spending code, is attuned to that because he realises there are particular infrastructure needs throughout the country that must be addressed in the here and now. This is not to mention what the Deputy addressed in his initial question regarding demographic growth.
I welcome the changes made to the delivery board but that board is essentially focusing on projects we have already signed up to. The reality is there are huge infrastructural bottlenecks that were not anticipated because of the change of expectations. We are now trying to deliver a 51% reduction in emissions, for example. That is much more ambitious than what we had previously. We need to embrace changes in land use, which will be a major challenge for farmers and others if we do not have significant investment programmes to back it up. The Department needs to think more fundamentally about what is changing in the world around us and how that plan needs to respond to those changes.
As I said, I do not disagree with what the Deputy said. In a roundabout way, what I get from his contribution is that the plan, the delivery board and those charged with making sure it happens need to be more flexible and adaptable, in respect of the changes in weather, climate, economics, demographics, and everything else that is out there. Nobody thought 12 months ago that the population of County Galway would have arrived in this country over a little more than 12 months. Our population is now soaring at a rate we did not even anticipate 12 months ago. The Deputy is right that the flexibility and malleability of the plan and delivery board to deliver specific projects and specific areas of infrastructural requirements will obviously have to be reflected based on the challenges and risks to us at present. This should include the ones we see, not to mention those we cannot.
Summer Economic Statement
Steven Matthews
Question:13. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if a report on the well-being framework will be included with the summer economic statement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21433/23]
We barely have time for one more question. We will not get to all of it.
That is understood. President Joe Biden, who visited us last month, is famous for saying, "Don't tell me what you ... [care about]. Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you ... [care about]." That very much applies to the ongoing work on the well-being framework in the Department. It is an important piece of work in breaking out of that siloed thinking we see inhibiting progress across Departments. Will a report on the well-being framework be included in the summer economic statement later this year so we can see where the money will be spent?
As I said, the summer economic statement will be published in the coming months. It sets out the key anchor for budgetary policy each year and outlines the parameters within which discussions will take place for budget 2024. Each year, the summer economic statement sets out our plans for sustainable expenditure growth to provide for the delivery of investment in public services and infrastructure to support a strong, fair and equal society into the future. Such plans are key to addressing issues of well-being for our people. It is fair to say that every Minister with responsibility for a particular programme will always be conscious of well-being and the people they serve.
As the budgetary process is a whole-of-year process, the well-being initiative is being developed in a way that seeks to inform the process as a whole. Within this broader context, the Department published a working paper that sets out an approach to integrating the well-being framework into Ireland’s budgetary cycle. The overall approach seeks to introduce a well-being perspective at key points in the budgetary process. The use of a well-being perspective has been evident at the national economic dialogues over the past few years. At this year’s dialogue, the Minister will chair a breakout session that is particularly informed by a well-being perspective. This will provide participants with an opportunity to consider long-term economic, social and environmental factors as part of their discussions, which goes back to what Deputy Bruton raised.
Following on from last year, it is intended that an analysis of the well-being framework’s 35 indicators will be published. These indicators cover a range of quality-of-life issues. The 2023 analysis is being prepared by the Department of the Taoiseach and it is intended that it will be published ahead of the national economic dialogue. Last year’s summer economic statement included an annexe outlining the well-being framework and providing a summary of the analysis of the dashboard indicators. The Department is currently working with the Department of Finance on the content of this year's summer economic statement.
More broadly, the spending review process offers an opportunity to develop, present and publish policy analysis that applies a well-being perspective to existing public policies and programmes.
The Minister of State referenced that we will integrate the well-being framework into key points in the budgetary process.
The logical key point in the budgetary process is the summer economic statement, which really begins to set out the parameters for the following budget in October. I would like an explicit statement based on the well-being framework to be included in that process.
I thank the Deputy for the question. It is going to form not only a part of the summer economic statement but also, more broadly, a part of the national economic dialogue. Returning to what the Deputy said a while ago in respect of open government, I think he will appreciate that the national economic dialogue is yet another example of such open government and the open government partnership. That dialogue will take place in the summer as well and it will provide people with varying views and perspectives in respect of concepts of well-being and what they believe is fundamental to having a good quality of life. It will allow all these issues to be thrashed out and it will inform the debate for this House, for committees, for Departments and for Deputies from all the different parties in advance of the budgetary discussions that will take place internally in our own parties and thereafter on the floor of this House.