Jim O'Callaghan
Question:202. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the action he has taken to enhance and expand public investment since 27 June 2020. [31850/23]
View answerThursday, 29 June 2023
Questions (202)
Written answers
Since this Government took office in June 2020, we have introduced significant changes to enhance the delivery of the State's national investment priorities.
Following a comprehensive review of the National Development Plan (NDP) over the course of 2020 and 2021, the Government committed €165 billion funding for capital investment, as set out in the NDP published in October 2021. 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 NDP includes indicative Exchequer allocations for each Department for a five year period (2021 to 2025) and the overall capital expenditure ceilings out to 2030. This expenditure was considered and agreed in order to support those sectors that would be key in delivering the ten National Strategic Outcomes (NSOs) identified in the National Planning Framework (NPF). The NDP contains expenditure commitments for a range of strategic investment priorities which have been determined by the relevant Departments as central to the delivery of the National Planning Framework vision.
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, supporting balanced regional development and, most importantly, delivering the necessary infrastructure to support our future climate change obligations as well as our social and economic requirements.
In March this year, I informed Government of a package of significant actions aimed at enhancing project delivery of the NDP. The actions include significant changes to reduce the administrative burden for Departments and public bodies developing capital projects. One of these specific changes was the general threshold for major projects increasing from €100m to €200m. These thresholds will be reviewed every 3 years to ensure they are still appropriate.
This will mean for projects with an estimated cost of less that €200m, Departments will no longer be required to engage with the External Assurance Process (EAP) or to submit these projects to my Department for technical review. As required within the Public Spending Code, the relevant Approving Authority must carry out a technical review of project proposals issued to them by their Sponsoring Agencies and it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer to ensure these reviews ensure compliance with the requirements of the Code.
The Government will continue to detail the delivery of the NDP at regular intervals into the future to allow for full transparency on the implementation of Project Ireland 2040. This will be achieved through regular updates of the Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and map as well as the publication of annual reports and regional reports highlighting Project Ireland 2040 achievements and giving a detailed overview of the public investments which have been made throughout the country.
The capital investment tracker provides a composite update on the progress of all major investments with an estimated cost of greater than €20 million. Accompanying the tracker, the myProjectIreland interactive map details projects across the country and provides details on specific projects by county. Search facilities also allow citizens to view projects in their regional area, by city, by county or by eircode.
In addition, Regional Reports on the implementation of Project Ireland 2040 in the three Regional Assembly areas have been published for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, with an update for 2022 scheduled to be published in the coming weeks. The reports set out the regional projects and programmes, which are being planned and delivered across the State, as part of the public investment detailed in Project Ireland 2040. While the reports do not provide an exhaustive list of all public capital expenditure, they serve to highlight the diverse range of investments being made by the State under Project Ireland 2040.
The Project Ireland 2040 Regional Reports, capital investment tracker and myProjectIreland interactive map are all available on gov.ie/2040.