Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2018
361. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation her Department's capital allocation in each of the years 2018 to 2022; and the areas to which funds will be allocated in each of those years. [9512/18]
View answerThe 2018 Revised Estimates Volume published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform provided for capital expenditure funding of €555 million for use by my Department in 2018. My Department’s definitive capital allocations for the other years referred to by the Deputy i.e. 2019 out to 2022 will be determined as part of the relevant annual Estimates processes.
The Deputy will be aware that the recently published National Development Plan (NDP) sets out a high-level financial and budgetary framework, which includes indicative Exchequer allocations, for each Ministerial Vote Group, over a five-year period from 2018 to 2022. The indicative allocations for my Department are set out in the following table:
|
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
€555 million |
€620 million |
€630 million |
€640 million |
€715 million |
At this stage it is too early to state definitively the specific funding that will be provided to support the different capital projects in my Department. The Deputy will be aware, however, that the allocations set out in the NDP are intended to enable Departments to implement the Strategic Investment Priorities to deliver on the National Strategic Outcomes identified in the National Planning Framework (NPF).
Insofar as my Department is concerned, the NDP sets out a number of specific Strategic Investment Priorities to deliver on the “Strong Economy, supported by Enterprise, Innovation and Skills” National Strategic Outcome identified in the NPF. These priorities include:
|
Business Enterprise |
Innovation |
|
Expansion of Advanced Manufacturing Supports, linking centres and capacity in the regions |
New Cycles of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, benefitting Higher Education in all regions |
|
New regional "Technology & Innovation Poles" |
Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund |
|
New Regional Sectoral Clusters to scale and internationalise enterprise in the regions |
Strengthened Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres and Enterprise Ireland Technology Centres |
|
Brexit Business Transformation through firm level supports |
Participation in EU High Performance Computing (HPC) Programme |
|
Expanding Enterprise Ireland budget for research and development |
Upgrading the Tyndall National Institute in Cork |
|
Expanding IDA Regional Property Programme, to attract investment to regions |
New Space Technologies Programme, to the benefit of firms in the regions |
|
A National Design Centre |
Membership of CERN |
|
Seed and Venture Capital Funding to support regional start-ups and growth |
|
|
eHubs for entrepreneurship |
Following the publication of the Plan, my focus along with the focus of my Ministerial colleagues is to ensure that the Investment Priorities of the Plan are implemented and delivered upon. For my part, the “Strong Economy, supported by Enterprise and Innovation” National Strategic Outcome is a key cornerstone to ensuring that the vision set out in the NDP is delivered. My Department’s Strategic Investment Priorities will ensure that the requirement for an additional 660,00 jobs envisaged in the NPF will be met and I am determined that these Priorities will be implemented over the lifetime of the Plan.
