The Programme for Government Annual Report 2018 was recently approved by Government and I understand it will be published shortly and available to view.
The Annual Report will obviously contain a detailed progress report on all of my Department's commitments and I am pleased to report good progress generally.
In advance of that publication, please find below a snapshot of activity in 2017 across the different sectors under my Department's remit -
Aviation
An additional €17 million was secured under the 2017 Mid-Term Review of the Capital Plan for regional airports, considerably in excess of the €10 million originally mooted in the Programme for Government, while more than €5.5 million was allocated under the Regional Airports Programme in 2017 itself.
Public Transport
In October
increased multi-annual capital investment funding envelopes were announced as part of the Budget which will provide an enhanced capital envelope of €2.7 billion for public transport investment between 2018 and 2021. In 2017 the new Luas CrossCity was completed and commenced services.
Roads
In
September the M17/M18 Gort to Tuam PPP road scheme was opened ahead of schedule and in October an additional €4.2 billion was announced for capital expenditure on roads over the period 2018 to 2021.
Tourism
An additional €32.6 m was secured for tourism product development for the period 2018-2021 following the Mid-Term Review of the Capital Plan while a public consultation period on the development of a new National Greenways Strategy was also completed during the year.
Sports
Grants of €60 m were announced to a record 1,800 projects under the 2017 round of the Sports Capital Programme. Under the NDP, over €100 million in capital funding has been allocated for the SCP for the period to 2021. Construction on Phase 2 of the National Indoor Arena commenced in July.
The above is just a brief overview of activity in 2017 with a comprehensive overview available to the Deputy in the Annual Report when it is published.