Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2023
27. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he expects to revise his allocation of capital spending across any Departments in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46959/23]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, my Department is responsible for the allocation of public funds across each area of Government spending and seeks to ensure that expenditure is managed by Departments in line with these allocations.
In Budget 2024, I allocated an additional €900 million in 2024 over the 2023 capital allocation for essential investment in providing more schools, hospitals infrastructure and for better public and road transport. This will bring total core capital investment in 2024 to €12.6 billion. This represents an increase of approximately 8 per cent, in line with the National Development Plan (NDP). The overall level of capital funding is now at an all-time high, with a commitment to further increase investment in capital projects and programmes over the lifetime of the NDP.
As outlined in the Summer Economic Statement, additional capital of €250 million is also being made available for 2024 from windfall exchequer receipts, to be allocated to critical infrastructure projects that are at an advanced stage and to the existing Climate Action Fund. Including the €250 million in 2024, this raises the overall increase in capital investment in 2024 to just over 10 per cent above 2023 funding.
