Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2023
33. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the details of the promised independent evaluation of national development plan priorities and capacity; the timeline for the evaluation to be carried out; the details of the individual or organisation tasked with carrying out the evaluation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31299/23]
View answerMy question specifically relates to the promised independent analysis and evaluation of the national development plan priorities and capabilities. Who is carrying this out? What is the entity or organisation and what is the time span?
As the Deputy has asked me such a concise question I will endeavour to give her a concise answer. The work is being carried out by the ESRI which is in the final stages of its completion. I hope to have its paper evaluating our national development plan well in advance of budget 2024.
I thank the Minister for his precision. Will it be published and available for us all to read? Is it taking into account our obligations which are onerous under climate change legislation?
Yes, it will be published. I have not seen the report and it is being done independently but I am sure it will refer to the commitments that we have under climate legislation but given that it covers the entire national development plan and has to cover all the spending under many different Government areas, it will not be solely focused on that.
I appreciate that and I appreciate the Minister's direct responses but climate change takes us onto a new level. We have to evaluate every single project in terms of our obligations under the emergency of biodiversity and climate change that we declared back in 2019. It needs transformative action. Going back to the national development plan, I welcome the amount of money that is being put aside. I welcomed many of the projects. My concern relates to the absence of transformative actions, leading out on these projects and what needs to be changed. I do not know the terms of reference that were given to the ESRI on this or whether it is open to it to look at the review through the lens of the emergency that we have declared on climate change and biodiversity.
I am certain that the massive civilisational challenge that we face with regard to climate will feature in what the ESRI has done but it was asked to do this work by the Government earlier in the year with a view to providing an input to decisions that we will make in the NDP within this year. The Deputy made a point about the lack of transformative projects. I would contend that the work now under way in renewable energy and particularly on offshore renewable energy does have the potential to be transformative for our country. Other decisions we have made, for example on the roll-out of the national broadband plan has the ability to be transformative in the medium term and to have a very positive effect on our ability to deal with some aspects of carbon emissions by giving some workers the ability to work either at or closer to home.
