Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2017
153. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when he plans to complete a review of the public spending code and introduce an infrastructure projects unit within his Department as recommended in the International Monetary Fund, IMF, public investment management assessment for Ireland. [51883/17]
View answerThe Public Investment Management Assessment (PIMA) undertaken for Ireland by the IMF was published on 10 November 2017.
The report and its recommendations are the work of expert team from the IMF invited to assess our public investment institutions to evaluate the design and effectiveness of the institutions that shape decision-making at the three key stages of the public investment cycle:
- planning investment;
- allocating investment to the right sectors; and
- implementing investment.
The PIMA concludes that overall, Ireland manages its public infrastructure relatively well. It highlights both strengths and weaknesses and contains a number of recommendations to improve future performance in terms of the efficiency of public capital investment.
Recommendations on matters such as strengthening rules on the use of appraisal techniques will be considered by the current review of the Public Spending Code. I expect this review to be completed next year.
The PIMA also proposes the establishment of a dedicated Infrastructure Projects Unit within my Department to provide advisory services on appraisal and selection of projects, and to carry out studies of infrastructure bottlenecks, financing, and evaluation of lessons learnt. My Department is considering this recommendation in the context of the preparation of the ten-year capital plan, which will be published to support the implementation of the Ireland 2040 Plan detailing the proposed new National Planning Framework. My Department's assessment will inform Government decision-making on the appropriate institutional arrangements for public capital investment.
