Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 November 2018
64. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the levels of capital expenditure which will be allocated for infrastructure projects for County Donegal; the timeframe for these allocations; the projects for which funding will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48996/18]
View answerAs I have informed the Deputy in response to similar previous questions, in my role as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at a Departmental level. Decisions on how and where those allocations are invested by Departments are a matter, in the first instance, for my ministerial colleagues.
You will appreciate that the key role in leading development at county level rests with the relevant local authority. Under the umbrella of Project Ireland 2040, Government has allocated capital funding behind the national priorities set out in the National Planning Framework. Hence, all stakeholders have clarity as to the linkage between the increasing capital resource envelope and national policy principles.
That national framework is being converted into coherent regional and local authority plans. This is where those national principles will be turned in practical actions, while applying the principles of the Public Spending Code to ensure that resources are directed to the purposes that will deliver the best outcomes for the citizen.
Under the NPF, the three Regional Assemblies are now responsible for co-ordinating, promoting and supporting the strategic planning and sustainable development of their regions, consistent with the objectives of the NPF, through the preparation of Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSES). The strategy for the Northern and Western Region provides the opportunity for the priorities for Donegal, for example the priorities included in the existing County Development Plan, to be integrated into a regional investment plan which is expected to be a major driver of the implementation of the NPF.
I might also add that, as previously advised, my Department publishes a major capital projects tracker on the website of the Department, which sets out details of the key projects and programmes being implemented under the NDP, including the location of the projects where possible. The Tracker includes a number of major projects directly related to Donegal. The tracker currently focuses on projects and programmes with costs greater than €20 million. While it does not provide an exhaustive list of all capital expenditure, the list of projects serves to highlight the diverse range of infrastructural demands competing for the resources of the State.
Finally, I wish to reiterate the point I made at the outset, which is that responsibility for the management and delivery of the individual investment projects, within the allocations agreed under the NDP, rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case. My Department's role is to set the overall capital allocations for the Departments and to authorize the delegated sanction arrangements under which those Departments make their spending decisions.
The tracker can be found at the following URL:
https://www.per.gov.ie/en/investment-projects-and-programmes-tracker/.
