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.
The NDP published in October 2021 provides a detailed and positive vision for Ireland out to 2030 and delivers total public investment of €165 billion over the period 2021-2030. The NDP establishes the Government’s over-arching investment framework and broad direction for investment priorities for this decade. The capital expenditure ceilings detailed in the NDP are cognisant of the overall capability of the construction sector to deliver on the NDP and of the appropriate share of National Income being devoted to infrastructure. The levels of capital spending in the NDP, at close to 5% of GNI* on 2021 estimates, are already among the highest in the EU and are close to the limit of the overall capability to deliver in the coming decade. It remains the case that the nominal allocations set in the NDP out to 2030 are well above the EU average and continue to put Ireland well ahead of comparator countries in terms of public capital investment.
In 2023, over €12 billion will be made available from the Exchequer for investment in public capital projects, which will provide more schools, homes, hospitals and other pieces of vital infrastructure. This level of expenditure will be pivotal in consolidating the progress already made, and, most importantly, delivering the infrastructure to support our future climate, social and economic requirements.
In March 2023, I presented to Government a package of significant actions aimed at enhancing project delivery for the NDP. Among these actions, I committed to an independent mid-term evaluation of investment priorities and capacity of the NDP, focusing on the capacity to deliver current Government priorities, to utilise sectoral capital allocations and to estimate the impact of the NDP on key economic indicators. This analysis is ongoing, and will inform the forthcoming estimates process for Budget 2024 and the overall capital expenditure ceilings for 2026 to 2028.
