I am delighted to welcome the Minister.
Project Ireland 2040: Statements
Thank you. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about the national development plan, NDP. This plan was first launched in 2018, with the revised version published in 2021. It is the largest, greenest and most ambitious plan of its kind to date and will have a value of €165 billion out to 2030. My Department will play a central role in supporting the delivery of the plan and making its ambitions a reality. Such significant investment does not come without delivery challenges. The NDP sets out the range of actions that are being taken to strengthen delivery of infrastructure, maximise value for money and ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that projects are delivered on time.
The Government has decided to sharpen the focus on delivery even further in 2023, putting responsibility for that focus with my Department, which is now known as the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Reflecting its change in name, my Department is examining how the support structures and levers at the Government’s disposal can be used to drive delivery of very important infrastructure, such as housing, schools, hospitals, roads and public transport.
The plan is undoubtedly ambitious. I am confident that it will support a more resilient, sustainable future for our country. It is built on the foundation of evidence-informed analysis which shows that more than 80,000 additional jobs will be supported in the construction sector as a direct result of investment relating to the plan over the coming decade. Our analysis also shows that there will be an increase of 3% in the total number of persons employed by 2030 because of this plan against a base where public investment is held constant at 2021 levels. The country has seen a step change in capital investment in a short period of time. In 2017, the figure stood at €4.6 billion in a year, while the equivalent figure in 2023 will be €12.1 billion.
As Senators will be aware, delivery of projects has been adversely impacted over the past three years as a result of the pandemic and the inflationary impacts from both Covid and the war in Ukraine, with significant knock-on impacts on the supply chain for construction materials. However, we are seeing tangible outcomes across regions, with many projects having been delivered since the plan was first launched in 2018. Examples include: enhanced educational facilities, including a new university campus in Grangegorman; better transport links, including upgrades on the N4 from Collooney to Castlebaldwin and from Gort to Tuam on the N17-N18; better health facilities, including the National Forensic Mental Health Service Hospital in Portrane, four major hospital extensions in Drogheda, Limerick, Clonmel and Waterford, and new primary care centres all over the country; high-quality cultural and sporting amenities, such as the indoor arena and elite training facilities at the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown; improved connectivity, for example, the north runway project at Dublin Airport; and hundreds of projects funded under the rural and urban regeneration and development funds, the disruptive technologies innovation fund and the climate action fund. The continuing development and implementation of the NDP will help to improve quality of life and maintain economic growth through investment in ongoing projects such as: the National Children’s Hospital; the Dunkettle interchange; the roll-out of the national broadband plan; and transport projects such as BusConnects, Metrolink and the DART+ programme.
With the scale of capital investment in the national development plan, it is vital that proper oversight and governance procedures are in place and that capital projects are appraised in a manner that ensures value for money and that the projects are delivered on schedule and within budget. This is critical to the delivery of the plan overall. All options to improve delivery and ensure that capital allocations are best utilised are currently being examined and a review of the public spending code is ongoing, with the objective of streamlining the capital appraisal requirements for Departments in order to improve NDP delivery and maximise delivery of vital infrastructure, such as housing, schools, hospitals, roads and public transport.
A number of reform options are continuing in the Department to ensure the robust, transparent and considered oversight of public funds through reforms to the public spending code. A major projects advisory group that supports Government decisions in outlining the merits of a project has been established. In 2022, this group completed four reviews of major project proposals, namely, BusConnects, Metrolink, the Clonburris urban regeneration development fund, URDF, project and the elective care centres proposed for Cork and Galway. The reviews focused on issues such as project risks, delivery feasibility and robustness of costings, governance and procurement, and were a key element of the Government’s consideration of these proposals.
Experience from other countries which have introduced similar independent assurance processes shows that such arrangements reduce project schedule delay and cost overruns, as well as being in line with leading international performers and meeting a recommendation of the IMF’s public investment management assessment, PIMA, of Ireland. Further to this, an enhanced challenge function, expert knowledge and independent rigour have been introduced to the deliberations of the Project Ireland 2040 delivery board by the appointment of five external members to the board in 2022. These experts have brought a different viewpoint on the delivery of the NDP, the governance structures in place and the consideration of risks to successful major project implementation.
Capacity, innovation and digital adaptation within the Irish construction sector are increasing through the Government’s collaborative approach and continued regular engagement with industry representatives via the construction sector group. In early November 2021, my Department announced that a consortium led by Technological University Dublin were awarded €2.5 million in grant funding to deliver the Build Digital project. This project is one of seven priority action points arising from the Building Innovation report, which drew upon an extensive consultation and international benchmarking process and an economic analysis of the causes of productivity trends in the Irish construction sector. The Government will continue to foster innovation and digital adaptation through initiatives such as the Build Digital project, the construction technology centre known as Construct Innovate and the demonstration park for modern methods of construction, which is located in Mount Lucas.
The Office of Government Procurement, OGP, is currently progressing its review of the capital works management framework and the public works contract. Among other elements, the review will look at means to measure the performance of a project and its key actors during the course of its delivery and beyond into its operation and maintenance. Furthermore, the OGP is engaged with bodies charged with delivering the national development plan to finalise a plan for the adoption of building information modelling, BIM. External advisers have been engaged to draft contract amendments to incorporate this form of technology into the capital works management framework and to prepare template procurement documents for publication.
I am acutely aware of the challenges that the construction industry has faced over the last two years in terms of material price inflation and supply chain disruption. In order to safeguard the delivery of key NDP projects, in January 2022 my Department introduced measures to address inflation for new contracts and tenders. In the same month, the OGP introduced measures to address the impact that price increases in construction materials were having on public works tenders.
The NDP will deliver significant and essential infrastructural projects to transform our country’s employment prospects, economic development and regional growth. As part of the new remit of my Department, we will consider how we can optimise delivery. I look forward to collaborating with my Government colleagues to make this a reality and to hearing the views of Senators on this important need.
I thank the Minister very much for that. I call Senator Cassells first now to speak, who is stepping in for Senator Davitt, who unfortunately cannot be here. The Senator has eight minutes.
I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to the Chamber. I thank him for the report he has given on what is a very significant plan and fund of nearly €200 billion which has shaped that vision and strategy for this country across so many spheres of our life and society. This will have a substantial impact on how life is conducted in the country.
One of the areas which the Minister touched upon in his speech was on improved delivery capacity. Indeed on 10 February, only a couple of weeks ago, we had an update on investment projects and the programmes tracker, and the updating of the MyProjectIreland interactive map and tracker, which is very welcome. Deliverability of all these items is key. I could go onto my laptop this morning in preparation for this debate. I can touch on it where there are little pin drops and by pressing on them, I can find out where these projects stand at this very moment.
That is very welcome but I do not need this particular app on my phone or laptop to tell me how projects are going. I need only look at my own local paper, the Meath Chronicle and Cavan and Westmeath Herald this morning where it talks about frustration growing over delivery of a new school building. That is one of many because that school in Enfield is where the principal, the board of management and the parents are now going to the local paper to talk about the fact that their 1,000 student school is still not ready and is no further on in its progress. What is really frustrating about that is when I looked at the update of Project Ireland 2040 back in 2019 in respect of that post-primary school for Enfield, I see that the box said that the school was to open in 2020. On front of my local paper in 2023 we have frustration expressed that it is no further on.
That is not unique because the Mercy Convent National School, which is 113 years old and accommodates approximately 400 students, has approval which was granted in 2021, but is now back in the queue with some 1,300 other schools. That is the frustration in bringing the vision of that plan and ensuring its deliverability is actually recognised. That is just in only one sphere which is education.
I am encouraging the Minister now in his new role to ensure, in respect of the billions of euro which are being allocated, that a rocket is put up the ass of some of the people around this country to ensure that we get deliverability because it is very frustrating.
One can take, for example, the urban regeneration and development fund, which will do so much good and will rejuvenate towns and cities. I see the projects in Cork, Galway or in Dublin. We see the fact that it comes to regional centres like my own home town of Navan, and that hundreds of millions of euro have been allocated to thwart that blight of dereliction. We need, however, to see an impetus put behind this where, at a macro-level, we are allocating funds which is greatly welcomed, but I want to see the results of that happening. There is an onus on the Department to ensure that those charged at a statutory level on the ground are doing their job. There is little point in us allocating this money if that deliverability is not coming back.
I welcome, in the context of the national development plan, that the Navan rail line was included in the revised plan for design and planning. That is of great importance. In the past two months it has been included in the revised greater Dublin area transport strategy. That will do a great amount of good for regional areas such as my own.
We need to also ensure that the funding is now frontloaded. I have met with Irish Rail's CEO, Jim Meade, twice in the past two weeks and he is ready to go with planning and to ensure that he will have a planning file ready within 18 months to progress that. We need to see ourselves in government play our part to ensure that happens.
The Minister has set out a very significant number of schemes and work that is occurring within the national development plan, but I return to the point about deliverability. If we do not have that, it does not give us any hope in the context of the paper that this plan is written on.
I refer to those areas, education which I have mentioned here, urban regeneration and transport. The Minister has also touched upon the increased costs in construction. We saw from the Minister’s own Department and that of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, the record amount of money that was allocated in sports funding, where some €150 million of sports capital grants were allocated across the country in the past year. We need to ensure that these projects are up and running but they are faced with those equal challenges. I hope that when the Minister sits down and looks at that in the coming year, that the same kind of funding will be put behind that, if not more so, to ensure they achieve their particular goals.
We face challenges in the health sector which we have seen over Christmas and the new year. I again put this challenge to the HSE, not to the Minister who ensures that there is money going into the sector. I put a challenge in respect of the deliverability by the statutory agencies which are charged with doing their job, such as the HSE. It takes the lion’s share of funding by way of taxpayers’ money in this country. I refer to the deliverability and plans it wants to put in place. I very much wonder about this when we see the chaos in Limerick because of HSE plans which closed ancillary services in Clare and elsewhere, which then put such pressure on Limerick. What is it doing now but the same again in areas such as my own town in Navan, where it is trying to force a closure of an accident and emergency department. We then saw over a dozen ambulances backed up at Christmas time in the accident and emergency department in Drogheda.
The point here is that at Government level, we are ensuring that the funding is going in but those charged on behalf of the State to implement the funding which the Government is directing are not doing their job to the adequate standard. Sometimes, we doff our cap and say that these are the experts who are charged with doing that. They are answerable, however, to the Minister and to these Houses and if they are not doing their job they should be called out in these Houses. I am particularly frustrated with the manner in which bodies such as the HSE, who are taking such a lion’s share of the taxpayers’ funds in this country, are doing their job.
I thank the Minister for being here and for setting out the ambitious plan but I reiterate my point that the key to the success of this plan is that we have accountability and deliverability across all sections in receipt of these funds. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach.
As always, the Minister is very welcome. Historically, Ireland’s stock and quality of public infrastructure has been poor by international standards. Poor quality roads, water and telecommunications infrastructure, in addition to a lack of schools and hospitals, compounded by poorly-balanced regional development, has diminished ordinary citizens’ quality of life. Chronic underdevelopment in public housing has exacerbated the housing crisis.
I do not need to remind anybody here that just this week, homeless figures broke the record for the seventh month in a row. There are now almost 12,000 people experiencing homelessness. That is a 28% increase on the past year and a 41% increase on two years ago. Significantly, these figures do not include rough sleepers, women in refuge centres, those couch-surfing, or those living in overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable conditions.
The picture is equally bleak when it comes to our healthcare system. In 2011, Fine Gael pledged to end the scandal of patients on trolleys, yet just in the past week, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, figures showed that in Limerick hospital alone, there were 49 patients waiting for beds in the emergency department and a further 60 elsewhere in the hospital. That is 109 patients on trolleys in Limerick hospital alone. That is for people who manage to get to hospital.
Freedom of information figures showed that a person in Waterford waited seven hours and ten minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Another 94 life-threatening emergency calls saw ambulances arrive four hours later. I could go on.
What is clear is that since the launch of Project Ireland 2040 and the current national development, the socio-economic environment which underpins it has changed drastically. Equally clear is that the proposed level of capital expenditure is wholly inadequate to deal with the crises we now face in housing and healthcare.
Sinn Féin's most recent budget submission called for €2.8 billion of additional capital expenditure over and above what had been pre-committed in the NDP. This extra capital speaks to the urgency with which we need to close the infrastructural deficit and catch up after delays arising from the pandemic. This additional funding was to provide a direct response to the growing housing crisis and to deliver additional capacity in key areas such as health, transport, education, childcare and disability services. This additional funding would have resulted in more social and affordable housing, more beds in our acute hospital system, additional classrooms and the kick-starting of vital disability services which had been shut down or operated at reduced capacity.
I will refer to where I live in Limerick for a couple of minutes and raise some key points directly with the Minister. The first is the continuing absence of a northern distributor road, a key piece of infrastructure to address chronic traffic problems in Corbally, the National Technological Park in Plassey and the Mackey roundabout in order to connect properly the people of Moyross to the city. It is just not there. The Government has ruled it out, effectively putting our city on hold.
I ask the Minister to clarify for me once and for all whether we will have a motorway between Limerick and Cork. No one seems to know that at the moment. A former Member of this House used to have a picture of himself behind a big banner of the M20 motorway in local newspapers almost every week. I have noticed that even he has stopped now because we have been waiting so many years for this project.
I referred to University Hospital Limerick earlier. There is now talk of two further 96-bed units but there are no timelines or plans. Our hospital is in crisis like no other hospital anywhere in the State. It is a crisis that gets worse week after week, month after month, after 12 years of Fine Gael in government. It has failed to deal with the crisis at the expense of our people and unfortunately at the expense of patients' lives.
When preparing for today's debate, I was struck by the lack of foresight when it comes to the nature of the expenditure. As we all know direct State spending counts as a direct charge on the Exchequer and thus the national debt. However, commercial investments, for example, through a semi-State body like the ESB could be considered off the books. This is an important consideration when we think of the large-scale investment in items such as solar panels, residential home retrofitting, etc. This kind of capital expenditure would allow the State to make savings and bring in revenue by helping to drive markets and create new ones. New sources of revenue such as tax and national income would be created as new jobs and industries take shape. Long-term savings can be made as the State cuts down on things such as fossil fuel imports and moves towards self-sufficiency, leaving more money circulating in the economy. Given the cost-of-living difficulties many households are currently facing, it is critical that direct State-led investment in labour-intensive activities and projects be prioritised.
Special focus must be given to the potential of creating new job opportunities through apprenticeships and employability schemes for young people. This can create both direct and indirect forms of employment with decent pay and working conditions. The sad reality remains that a lack of accountability and transparency in the management and governance of large public expenditure undermines public trust and confidence. Massive cost overruns in key projects such as the national children's hospital and others have severely impacted on both their delivery and the commencement of other key projects. Furthermore, the continued use of public private partnerships which lacked transparency due to the commercial confidentiality that arises, means it is difficult to assess the real cost of projects.
Sinn Féin believes that public confidence can and must be restored. To achieve this the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform needs greater expertise to provide rigorous examinations and robust appraisals of a contract to ensure it represents best value for money before going to tender. Moreover, the Government must actually listen to the advice it has given. The procurement process must also have consideration for other issues. Specifically, it should move away from the current system which is often weighted heavily towards the very narrow concept of cost efficiency. It should instead recognise and give due consideration to the positive effect of social causes and socially equitable goals. Sinn Féin believes in greater use of social clauses in public procurement contracts for the achievement of various social objectives such as enhancing workers' rights, employment activation, local employment creation, gender balance and other considerations.
I again urge the Government to acknowledge the changes which have come upon us since this plan was developed and recognise the real pain that continuing with business as normal will have on ordinary people's standards of living for years to come. This morning at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment no less a body Chambers Ireland expressed real concern over the Government's performance on the national development plan. Its members are increasingly worried about the capacity of the State, and the wider economy, to deliver on the aims of the national development plan and our climate action plan. That is what the business community is telling us today. The Minister has much more to do.
The Minister is very welcome. I welcome the renewed focus on the NDP in the title of his role as decided by the Taoiseach in recognition of its importance.
We know that the population of the country will continue to increase, as is projected for in the national planning framework. Some areas will grow faster than others but the national planning framework attempts to direct growth to other areas. For example, 25% of the growth is projected for Dublin, 25% in Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford, with 50% in other towns, regional centres and rural areas. It is important to acknowledge that it is not Dublin focused or city focused. While cities are the main drivers of economic development, there is so much more to offer in other areas as well.
We also know that commuting is a necessity in many instances. It may perhaps not be desirable and not something people wish for, but people need to commute outside their immediate area. For example, people might live in Meath, Westmeath or Laois and travel to Dublin. They deserve good quality services in those areas.
It could be argued that full employment is being taken for granted at the moment. We have effectively a worker shortage in many key sectors. Of course, as the Minister knows and as everyone here knows, it was not always thus. In the years from 2008 to 2012, we had serious unemployment. We had unemployment during the Covid pandemic but thankfully that was temporary and the economy rebounded. We had endemic unemployment in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. I hope we will never go back to that level of unemployment, but it is something we always need to be aware of. Regarding competitiveness and the globalisation of direct investment we need to be wary and conscious, as I know the Minister and his Government colleagues are, of the needs and issues they have.
Of course, the housing situation is serious and through Housing for All we need to continue the focus on that to ensure we can continue to ramp up the construction of houses.
We obviously have our climate obligations. The NDP has made increased allocations for cycling, greenways, and rail investment. Last week, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was with us presenting his plans for that. Roads cannot and should not be ignored because they are important as economic drivers. It is not just about getting people from A to B faster, but is also about safety. As was true in the past, many of our secondary roads would benefit greatly from improvement works providing safety, driveability and a better driver experience. That is not just for cars but also for buses and HGVs. They also play a significant role in regional balanced development.
We have a number of challenges particularly with planning. We have had issues with An Bord Pleanála for some time. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is looking at reinvigoration of the board, its renaming and other changes. Some local authorities, including mine in Galway, have particular issues with the work pressures on planners because they cannot get planners. If they are planners, they cannot get them to work in Galway. There has been chronic underfunding for a number of decades.
The Minister mentioned the changes to the contracts to address inflation for new contracts and tenders. For example, the fixed price period was reduced to 24 months. I wonder if that is enough with costs increasing so fast.
The demand for construction workers is critical to the delivery of Project Ireland 2040. I know the Minister, Deputy Harris, is conscious of that in terms of apprenticeships and the models he is running. Demand for engineers is a worldwide issue and an eye needs to be kept on it. Population growth is both a challenge and a positive because we need workers to fill the critical posts, whether in healthcare or hospitality, to name just two areas.
Regional differences are a challenge. I mention particularly the NUTS 2 GDP figures regarding the per capita ranking of the 242 EU regions, which are quite stark. In 2018, the northern and western region was 114th in the ranking. In 2019, it was 136th, whereas the eastern and midlands was more positive at 14th in 2008 and fourth in 2019. The southern region went from 37th in 2008 to second in 2019. This clearly shows improvements in the southern, eastern and midlands regions but not in the northern and western region. We must be conscious of that and reverse that change. There are many positives, such as EU membership, a strong economy, full employment, effectively, a stable political system, which I hope continues into the future, and a strong educational sector, which is hugely important. If you talk to multinationals, they always comment on the exceptional standards in education in this country, the pipeline and the involvement and engagement of technical universities with businesses in deciding and running courses employers need.
The Minister also mentioned the public spending code, which is under review, as he said. I raised a question with the Secretary General of the Department of Health, Mr. Robert Watt, on 7 December, regarding projects. We are talking about health but it could be any project. Staying with health, I asked him, if a project was identified and if the Secretary General, the Minister, the Taoiseach or the Cabinet decided a project is needed, for example, the delivery of 100 beds, how quickly could things be fast-tracked through the public spending code. He commented - it is on the record - that if it was something that was identified, etc., it could be fast-tracked to within six and nine months. That could obviously not be done for every project but for certain projects it could. It is something the Minister could examine in driving key projects. As I said, they cannot all be done and must still go through the planning process and the delays therein. I also highlight the importance of the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, and rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, for rural Ireland. They have been important for rural and urban Ireland for key projects that fell outside the scope of all other funding streams in the past.
Another challenge we face is that the key building blocks for any town and village are water and wastewater. Too many towns still have inadequate systems. Without them, there will be no development. There is a housing challenge and crisis, if you like, some areas cannot be part of the solution until they get wastewater infrastructure. It is vital that Irish Water is funded to equip those towns and villages which otherwise have capacity and land that may be built on, but need that basic building block.
I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber and thank the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, for updating us on the NDP. Notwithstanding that there are very serious sums involved in the national planning framework and national development plan, there are serious questions about the scale of ambition in the national development plan. The Government acknowledges it is going to cost about €28 billion to retrofit all houses. The Minister of State knows how important the deep retrofitting of houses is going to be in beginning to try to meet our climate action targets. The State acknowledges that about €28 billion needs to be spent between now and 2030 and yet is only stumping up €8 billion of that. There are serious questions for this Government about its fiscal commitment to ensuring we can bring about real climate action in this decade. On housing, there is a target of 33,000 houses to be built every year from now until 2050, yet there is unpublished research by the Housing Commission which suggests the targets need to be almost doubled. We have not heard a response from the Government on what realistic targets can be put in place. If we are serious about ensuring there is a house for all, we need to examine those targets and the scale of the Government's ambition.
I had wished to raise one issue in detail today with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in particular. I may pick it up with him another time. The issue is the €70 million to be allocated in the national development plan to the building blocks capital programme. The figure of €70 million is a drop in the ocean compared with the scale of the national development plan but it is absolutely vital in the context of shortages in the childcare sector, particularly in Dublin at the moment. While it is important to acknowledge there has been progress in helping families with the affordability of childcare, that help is a reduction of somewhere between 9% and 25%, which is still far off where we need to be to make childcare truly affordable. The overwhelming issue in the early years sector is availability of places. In many instances, there is a lack of places because there is a sheer lack of appropriate physical infrastructure for preschool places and crèches. A particular example is in Stoneybatter, in Dublin 7, an area the Minister knows only too well, as do I. By June of this year, there will be a loss of 105 preschool places in that small urban village because two primary schools, which have for many years hosted two preschools, now need to make space for additional needs provision. There is a lack of joined-up thinking in this case. The Department of Education says we need to expand special needs education but the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, does not seem to have been informed of any decisions by the Department of Education and some children with special needs aged three and four attending the preschools are now at a loss. There is no joined-up thinking. As the preschools have had to be pushed out by the primary schools, they are left high and dry. They cannot find anywhere.
Any time we have raised this with the Minister responsible for children, while there is a lot of sympathy, we are told his Department can do very little. The city and county childcare committees tell us they can do very little because they are not resourced for it. The one thing they point to is the €70 million of the building blocks capital expenditure programme. We have seen no detail as to whether any money has been spent or is planned to be spent. I wish to tell the Minister of State that the situation is urgent. The loss of 105 places in Stoneybatter is just one example. There are at least four other crèches or preschools across Dublin's inner city that cannot find space. Others are creaking at the seams with massive waiting lists that would love to take on more children. There are families who simply do not have places, yet they cannot expand. The key question is, where is the Government's ambition? Where is its vision as to ensuring there is a sufficient number of places? I would like to hear a response from the Minister of State today or by follow-up to comment on what is happening to that €70 million. It needs to be spent now.
There is a crèche on Hardwicke Street, Dublin 7. Over the door, it states it was funded by the EU Structural Fund and Irish Government funding. For good reason, EU structural funding is not coming into the country any more and our public finances are in a very good place. While there is an overall pot of money allocated to the national development plan, we need to see more money going into ensuring that physical places are put in place for the early years sector.
I am a big fan of the Project Ireland 2040 ambition and framework. It is about future-proofing the country, communities and our economy, by looking at population growth, the necessary investment in climate resilience and ensuring we are supporting Housing for All. We do not just live in houses and homes but in communities and the infrastructure must be there. I am aware of the investment that has gone into Project Ireland 2040 in Dublin West but in reality when the supply of community infrastructure does not meet demand it is a serious pinch point in any community and we face it when it comes to community centres, school projects, infrastructure in general. That is when we see real frustration in our communities. At the moment I am getting it about school projects and the speed at which those are being delivered. I emphasise the importance of securing a building for a special school in Dublin 15 called Danu Community Special School. Equally, another school, Ériu Community College, is waiting for its permanent building in Blanchardstown.
One of the biggest success stories we have seen recently is the investment in rural towns and villages that has also happened under Project Ireland 2040. I am referring to initiatives like the town and village renewal scheme, which has been hugely successful. We have Our Rural Future, the Town Centre First policy, CLÁR funding, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme, ORIS, and connected hubs. The big issue is that even though in urban areas we have populations that give us our local property tax and can fund projects through our county councils, there is a hole when it comes to the same projects for urban villages. I work for Dublin West, which is a collection of villages. That gets forgotten. It is not just one big, sprawling area. It is about Castleknock village, Blanchardstown village, Ongar village, Ashtown village, Mulhuddart village, Clonsilla village and Tyrrelstown village, yet we do not have the same opportunities for projects in those villages and we are not getting the kickback and the localism we have seen emerge over the last few years. I can understand how the rural projects are more about addressing dereliction and vacancy and breathing new life into communities. However, we still have the ambition of 15-minute cities for our villages and it is one we want to deliver on. We do not have the same opportunities for our urban villages. I look at opportunities in all the villages in Dublin 15 for community infrastructure, because we do not have enough of it. We do not have enough community centres. We are tight on meeting rooms. We do not have enough community childcare facilities.
Getting the buildings is the biggest issue. A property has come up in Castleknock village. It came up last year and I advocated the council buy it. The council does not have the same access to funding as those in other areas have. That was the feedback I got from the council itself. The building is zoned as community infrastructure already and is in an architectural conservation area. It is a perfect chance to bring an old heritage building back to life. It would fit the criteria for the town and village renewal scheme in a rural area under the building acquisition programme but we do not have the same opportunity in urban areas of Dublin, and we should. The urban regeneration and development fund does not allow for smaller projects like this, so we could amend that. However, the real solution is a town and village scheme that would enable us to buy those heritage properties, vacant properties and bring them to life as community infrastructure in urban areas.
I thank the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, for coming to the House to present to us on Project Ireland 2040. We see clearly Fine Gael in government has put plans in place and together we are looking at evaluating the 2040 plan under the current Government, but this dates back to 2018. It was about putting plans in place, and ensuring there is a reserve of funding to deliver on projects that are crucial. There are now more than 5 million people in the Republic of Ireland and there is such a dire need for infrastructure. I welcome seeing the logo of the NDP in my area because it means the delivery of roadways. An example of that is Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge. It is going make our area of Roscommon safer. It is going to ensure there are fewer accidents on roads because we are delivering incredible infrastructure. That route is going to be a priority we are looking to have delivered on this year, where reaching the next stage under tender is concerned.
The other projects are hospitals. In Ballinasloe, I am delighted to see our 50-bed ward block. The Taoiseach had an opportunity to visit that last Friday to see the construction in progress. That is all part of us delivering on Project Ireland 2040, which is delivering for the people in our towns and villages across the country.
In my area of Roscommon and Galway there is a focus on the rural regeneration fund which is under the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, the urban regeneration and development fund under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The disruptive technologies innovation fund has been crucial in driving change at third level. It has funded excellence in research groups across all our universities and it has rewarded innovation and innovative technologies in Ireland. It is about people in Ireland driving change and also working with industry. The climate action fund is another crucial part of Project Ireland 2040. The RRDF is delivering in many different ways. It has provided remote working hubs and looked at the reuse of old buildings to tackle vacancy and dereliction. There is a building in my home town of Ballinasloe that was the basis of a strong application that won more than €500,000 under just transition. The plan is to make it into a remote working hub. The project also benefitted from town and village renewal scheme funding, but unfortunately there is still a shortfall. This is due to the increase of the cost of materials required for the renovation. We must take such matters into account.
I welcomed the emphasis in the Minister, Deputy Donohoe's speech on digitalisation to streamline procurement, sustainability and standards within the construction sector. He mentioned the Build Digital project at TU Dublin. It is going to be a way to ensure we are delivering value for money and streamlining the process here as well. Construct Innovate is based at the University of Galway and there has been investment of more than €5 million. It is bringing together hundreds of research teams across the country to make the way we do things better by delivering in a quicker way and trying to reduce costs.
Senator Currie mentioned that we are seeing challenges around childcare. This is especially so in rural areas. We may need to look at more community crèches and community childcare. When I knock on doors people are talking about childcare infrastructure being the type most required in our local area. I am aware there is much to be done. Many projects have been delivered. I challenge those who say otherwise. We can see delivery of projects. There is the Galway to Dublin cycleway. We can see the bridge going across the River Shannon.
We can see the construction of infrastructure happening in front of our eyes because plans are being put in place to develop our country to be ready for what we need right now, for our growing population and for our towns and villages.
The Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, is very welcome as was the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, who was here earlier. Back in 2018, I was down in Sligo when Project 2040, the national development plan, was launched. After a significant amount of pressure by local representatives in the midlands and up into the north west, the N4 project was put back onto the national development plan. It had reached the emerging preferred route stage in 2008 when the economic crash came and there it remained.
In his opening speech, the Minister said: "Delivering the NDP will have a transformative impact on employment opportunities, economic development and regional growth to support our growing population". The programme for Government also refers to balanced regional development. Unfortunately, those of us who live beyond Mullingar and in the north west are not serviced with that connectivity to our main city and our main ports because funding for that project did not happen for over a decade. We got it back onto the national development plan and now just €200,000 has been allocated by the Department for that project in 2023 to bring it to an emerging preferred route stage again and there it will stop.
Lands and households have been locked for the best part of 20 years on that route. A significant number of landowners on the route and the other emerging route have been locked for the last four years. Now we are only funding it to reach an emerging preferred route status which is not a definitive route. Those of us living in the midlands and the north west are not being treated fairly. Every other region in the country has that connectivity to our capital city so that they can avail of balanced regional development but we do not because we are the only area in the country that is not served.
The introduction outlines where projects were completed, including the N4 from Collooney to Castlebaldwin, which is the far side of a route where there is a single carriage way. There is a dual carriageway or motorway as far as Mullingar, followed by a single carriageway and then a dual carriageway in towards Sligo. Senator Dolan mentioned the €250 million spent on that project at the other side, but in between all the traffic on the N4 coming from the entire north west, including Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal and part of Westmeath is travelling on this single carriageway route.
Journey times to get to our cities are longer, including for buses. We have a single train line. For long sections of 20 or 30 miles, there is only a single line and so there is not a regular train service. From 2008 to today, there have been 20 fatalities, 34 serious injuries and 218 other accidents on that route. There are approximately 130 exits off that section of road. If we want to provide balanced regional development, everybody in the country needs to benefit from the national development plan. I feel that we in Longford are not benefiting because we do not have many of these infrastructure projects.
St. Joseph's Hospital is crying out for extra funding. Upgrades have been done to the beds there. A minor injury clinic was opened linked to Mullingar General Hospital, which is our local general hospital, but that was located at a private hospital in Mullingar instead of investment going into another hospital in Longford where we have an X-ray department and other services. I do not think we are getting our fair share. This was a kick to the businesses, landowners and householders in our region who will be sitting in limbo again not being able to plan ahead or apply for planning permission. Significant investment is waiting for this route to be decided. Pat McDonagh of Supermac's made an application to develop a plaza on this route which would bring investment into our county. I want that message brought back to the Department. We are entitled to our fair share of funding from the national development plan. It is incumbent on all of us in counties in the north west to demand that.
I thank all Senators for their contributions and their ongoing engagement on the national development plan today. Some important issues were raised and I welcome the opportunity to clarify and elaborate on them.
As stated earlier, my Department has been renamed to give an additional focus to the delivery of the NDP and to assist Departments in delivering on their much-needed priority projects. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and I are looking at all the policy levers and supporting structures at our disposal which could support the delivery of critical projects as well as working with colleagues across Government to remove any potential barriers impacting on delivery. This work will likely focus on how projects are approved and appraised by the Government and Departments, the public procurement procedures required to comply with EU regulations under my own remit, identifying capacity and capability gaps across the public sector and working to bridge these gaps. This is the major change. The Department was called the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, or DPER for short, and it now has NDP delivery. Therefore, it now has a focus on ensuring the projects happen rather than independently standing back, appraising them and telling the other Departments that it was their problem if their project did not proceed.
There are three aspects to ensuring we get momentum in the delivery of the NDP. Ensuring value for money for the taxpayer remains a key priority for my Department while still supporting project delivery. Regarding the appraisal of the most expensive and risky major projects, external scrutiny will still be required through the application of the external assurance process and an assessment of the major projects advisory group prior to a Government decision. These steps are essential in ensuring rigour in project development.
In addition to focusing on public sector delivery capability, my Department will continue to work closely with the construction sector through the construction sector group to improve productivity and delivery capacity. Important initiatives have been launched and supported through the construction sector group in recent years, including the Build Digital project to digitise the sector, Construct Innovate to provide cutting edge research and the Demonstration Park for Modern Methods to showcase innovative building techniques. I regularly meet representatives of the Construction Industry Federation to ensure enough people are being trained. The Government is aware of problems in the construction sector and is in touch with the real world on why projects are slowing or what problems there may be, for example, to do with procurement or inflation problems.
This is a whole-of-government plan and one which will require ongoing investment beyond the lifetime of the NDP. I want to acknowledge the high levels of engagement and commitment in the development of this NDP across all capital departments.
I want to turn to some of the Senators' specific questions. I also thank the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, who has now replaced the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath. I will be meeting him regularly and working with him to ensure we make progress. A number of Senators spoke about investment in childcare. The Government has clearly done a lot for childcare and has focused on that. The 25% reduction in cost is huge. Bringing in a minimum wage for childcare professionals for the first time is significant and will attract more people in. We now also have supports to ensure that childcare providers continue to be viable. The three areas of focus are: supporting employees; supporting childcare providers; and supporting parents.
As Senators have pointed out, it is not all about price and cost, but also simply availability. In many cases childcare facilities have shut down in the past or none are available in an area, particularly in a growing area. This is a serious problem which I am well aware of through direct campaigning and talking to people in my constituency. There is a need for continued investment in the childcare sector. Senators referred to the specific problems in their own areas and it is valuable to do that. I am always willing to engage on that. I will talk to my colleague the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, about his capital needs and we will be looking at those in the upcoming budget.
Senator Currie raised her concerns about the delivery of community centres and community infrastructure. She felt that it was easier to obtain renovation grants for buildings in a rural area than in an urban village location.
Although she is aware that there are many different forums, like the URDF, rural regeneration, the town and village renewal scheme and Croí Cónaithe, in practice, she was having difficulty finding money to renovate a community centre in Dublin 15 because it is located in an urban village area rather than a rural one. It is possible that just transition funds may help with that. Again, I am always happy to engage with any Senator who has a specific problem.
Senator Dolan pointed out that the evidence of the infrastructure-building that has been going on is before our eyes. It is true. You look around and see greenways, bridges and activity everywhere. In my constituency, I see huge numbers of building projects going on, which were often opposed by other public representatives.
Senator Carrigy expressed how he is frustrated with the length of time it takes for the emerging preferred route to be selected. He pointed out that there is a single carriageway leading to one whole region of the country. He feels there have been many fatalities on the road and that there is a very good case for improvement there. The Senator's feeling is that the emphasis is not fair and that other areas of the country are getting their projects funded before his area in the north west. I am happy to talk to him about that if he feels there is unfairness. He is saying there is a kind of bottleneck, that there have been investments in the road on either side but in the centre there is an area that is not getting the funding it needs because it is taking so long to choose the routes. I am happy to work with the Senator on that.
We believe the investment strategy we have laid out in the NDP is going to have a transformative impact on the future of our employment opportunities and regional growth and that it is going to deliver the infrastructure requirements for a growing population. We have been growing at least 1% a year for a long time. We are sustaining wages and jobs. We need to modernise our construction sector and we need to allow for regionally balanced growth across the country. I assure the Seanad that this NDP is being delivered, and that it will deliver tangible and visible outputs while providing value for money. These high levels of investment will produce outcomes to support a growing economy and a higher living standard for those living here.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 2.23 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 2.45 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 2.23 p.m. and resumed at 2.45 p.m.