Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 May 2023
27. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform as the new Chair of the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board, the processes and procedures he hopes to implement that will speak to a fair allocation of national capital monies to individual regions and populations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22059/23]
View answerBalanced regional development is a key priority of this Government and is at the heart of Project Ireland 2040.
Project Ireland 2040 includes the National Planning Framework (NPF), which sets the overarching spatial strategy for the next twenty years and sets out ten National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs) to provide a strategic framework for the selection and development of appropriate interventions to address infrastructure needs at a national, regional and local level.
As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery 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 individual investment projects, within the allocations agreed under the National Development Plan (NDP), rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case. My Department therefore allocates expenditure on a departmental basis, not a geographic basis.
The recent renaming and reconstitution of my Department, to specifically include NDP Delivery, has brought about a greater emphasis and mandate for the delivery of the NDP. In light of this new role, a review of the support structures and levers available across Government to maximise delivery of projects was undertaken, as well as engagement with stakeholders and Government colleagues. As a result, a series of actions and reforms were identified as priorities to improve delivery of NDP projects and programmes. I secured Government approval for that package of measures on 29 March. Those measures include:
• Significant changes to reduce the administrative burden in delivering major capital projects;
• As Minister I am now taking a direct role in overseeing delivery of the NDP through chairing the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board. The new Delivery Board will focus on major project (€200m+) delivery targets. Sectoral Secretaries General will be invited to appear before the group to highlight efforts to increase delivery. In addition, there will be increased focus on fixing the planning challenges, boosting the skills offering in the construction sector and boosting construction sector productivity;
• Capacity reviews of departments and agencies with significant delivery programmes to ensure that adequate resources for project delivery are in place;
• Additional reforms to the Capital Works Management Framework, which sets out the contracts used for public capital projects;
• Direct reporting to Government on NDP delivery on a quarterly basis throughout 2023 and 2024 will now also take place and
• In addition, an independent evaluation of NDP priorities and capacity will be conducted over the coming months.
I am confident that the combination of all the actions I have recently brought forward to boost NDP delivery will lead to improved outcomes for citizens in all regions of the country.
