Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2017
59. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when he expects to publish the revised capital plan; and if the plan once published will be finalised or if it will be open for revision. [40453/17]
View answerI assume the Deputy is referring to the proposed National Investment Plan, which will set out key priority themes for public capital investment for the period 2018 to 2027, in support of the forthcoming National Planning Framework. The National Investment Plan will mark the culmination of an extensive deliberative process conducted by my Department in the course of this year, under the Mid Term Capital Review. I published the results of this Review on Thursday 14 September 2017.
The Review draws on an evidence base that includes detailed submissions by Departments and Offices, an extensive public consultation, as well as an Infrastructure Capacity and Demand Analysis completed by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
I intend to convene a consultative forum in the coming weeks, to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to comments on the outputs from the Mid Term Review and contribute to the framing of the National Investment Plan.
Following this consultative process, it is currently intended to publish the National Investment Plan in tandem with the publication of the National Planning Framework by my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government before the end of the year. As is the case for any long-term plan or strategy, it will of course be important for the Government's capital expenditure objectives set out in the National Investment Plan to be responsive to significant changes in the overall environment for public capital investment in the future.
