Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021
64. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to establish a new oversight, accountability and transparency unit in order to regularly record the allocation of capital expenditure and grants on a publicly accessible Open Ireland portal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20243/21]
View answerAs Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform I am committed to openness and transparency. My department produces an online Databank, which includes a comprehensive set of data on voted public expenditure in Ireland. I am responsible for the annual Estimates of Expenditure, and for the multi-year capital envelopes, which set the overall capital allocations across Departments; and for the ongoing monitoring of expenditure, both current and capital, that takes place across the Departments. Responsibility for the management and delivery of the Departmental capital expenditure programmes, and of individual investment projects, within these agreed allocations is the responsibility of the individual Department in each case.
In relation to spending, my Department is in regular contact with all other Departments and Offices to ensure that expenditure is being managed within the overall fiscal parameters. The drawdown of funds from the Exchequer is reported on each month against expenditure profiles in the Fiscal Monitor published by the Department of Finance. All revenue and expenditure returns are measured against targets called profiles, which are set at the start of the year. The targets are based on forecasts published in the Budget. The Fiscal Monitor covers the cash inflows and outflows of central government’s main treasury account, the Central Fund. Revenue items include tax receipts, non-tax revenues and capital receipts. Expenditure is composed of departmental spending and non-voted expenditures such as debt servicing costs.
More specifically on the capital expenditure area, a suite of key reforms has been introduced since 2018 to support the efficient implementation of Project Ireland 2040 and its objectives, including:
Establishment of a Construction Sector Group to ensure regular and open dialogue between Government and the construction sector stakeholders;
A Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board, consisting of Secretaries General across key infrastructure Departments, which meets regularly to ensure effective leadership of the implementation process. The minutes of the Delivery Board shall be available for access online shortly, and I have recently announced that the governance and capability of the Delivery Board will be enhanced through bringing on board a total of five external independent members;
The establishment of a National Investment Office in my Department to coordinate reporting on the National Development Plan and to drive reforms included strengthened business case and project appraisal;
A Capability Review of public sector bodies recently completed by EY on behalf of my Department to ensure that the State’s delivery practices are of the highest standard; and
The update of the Public Spending Code and review of construction procurement strategy as part of the ongoing reform of Ireland’s capital management systems.
