Joe Flaherty
Question:121. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the key priorities in 2022 under the National Development Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11369/22]
View answerTuesday, 1 March 2022
Questions (121)
Written answers
The National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-30 was published in October 2021 and is accompanied by a continued focus on improving the delivery of investment under Project Ireland 2040. The renewed NDP has a particular focus on the all-of-Government priorities of housing and climate action ambitions, as well as to support other national strategic objectives as set out in Project Ireland 2040.
The NDP is the largest in the history of the State. Our annual capital investment budget is now among the largest among EU countries. 2022 will be pivotal in consolidating the progress already made, and, most importantly, delivering the infrastructure to support our future climate, social and economic requirements. This year almost €12 billion is available to spend on vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action.
As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level. The 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.
The NDP includes indicative Exchequer allocations for each Department for a five year period (2021 to 2025) and overall capital expenditure ceilings out to 2030. This expenditure is aimed at supporting the delivery of the ten National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs) identified in the National Planning Framework (NPF), which sets the overarching spatial strategy for the next two decades.
As the NDP is a high-level financial and budgetary framework it does not outline a comprehensive list of all the public investment projects that will take place over the next ten years, including 2022. For an extensive list of projects that are currently planned as part of Project Ireland 2040, the Deputy might consider the publications that were published alongside the NDP in October 2021, particularly the updated Investment tracker which is available at gov.ie/2040. The tracker provides a composite update on the progress of all major investments with an estimated cost of greater than €20 million, including the location of the projects where possible.