Vol. 963 No. 3
1. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of the roll-out of the public service information and communications technology strategy; the amount that has been spent on it to date; the estimated amount to be spent; the security implications and data protection steps that have been taken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53464/17]
I would like to ask the Minister about the status of the public service information and communications technology strategy, particularly the work being done to ensure citizens' personal data are secure, especially at a time when data privacy is under such a threat.
The 18 step action plan sets out the approach to implementing the public service ICT strategy and momentum on the 18 steps continues to be maintained under the leadership of the Civil Service ICT Advisory Board and its associated working groups. In addition, last week the Government chief information officer held a joint sectoral meeting with the ICT and business transformation leaders’ group from the Department of Health, the HSE, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to look at opportunities for joint working across the broader public service.
The key deliverables which can and should be progressed on a State-wide basis include a first version of a Government digital services gateway, a Government data centre strategy, an open data initiative, the development of common services for Departments and a formal plan for adoption of the use of MyGovID to enable citizen access to public services. The Deputy may also wish to note that many of these actions, particularly the development of MyGovID and the digital services gateway, are encapsulated in the eGovernment strategy launched in June and align very well with European Commission developments such as the digital Single Market, the eGovernment action plan and the general data protection regulation, GDPR.
It is expected that the Department will have spent €19.1 million in implementing the strategy between 2015 and the end of this year. The expenditure represents both current and capital investment in building and supporting a range of infrastructures such as the Government networks service, the build-to-share common applications and the private Government cloud platforms. A further €7.5 million has been provided in budget 2018 for the roll-out of the strategy.
As the Deputy will be aware, the implementation of the EU general data protection regulation is being led by the Department of Justice and Equality, while the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment takes the lead on the issue of cybersecurity. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform continues to work closely with the national cybersecurity centre, the State's national governmental computer security incident response team. As mentioned, the strategy consists of a range of projects, each of which will ensure the appropriate data protection and cybersecurity measures are implemented for the services deployed. In delivering the range of initiative the Department operates a strength-in-depth approach to cybersecurity and protecting ICT systems, infrastructure and services and continues to work to mitigate emerging threats, risks, vulnerabilities and cybersecurity issues.
The Minister of State says the Department of Justice and Equality is the lead Department. Is the sum of €19.1 million attached to the Department of Justice and Equality or the Minister of State's Department? Has there been any major cyberattack during the past 12 months on information held by the State? Will the Minister of State give an update on the Data Protection Commissioner's investigation into the use of the public services card? Has there been engagement on it between the Department and the Data Protection Commissioner?
I will address the last aspect first. Six Governments have been in office since the concept of the public services card came to fruition and almost 3 million cards have been issued to date. As a Government, we are conscious that we want to ensure there will be a single point of entry for those accessing services. We collect the information once, maximise the opportunities to avail of it and continue to roll out the card. As the Deputy will have seen recently, we have further plans in that regard. The card is in complete compliance in the use of the Standard Authentication Framework Environment, SAFE II, and MyGovID. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will have €19.1 million to cover the cost involved.
I support the concept of the public services card. Will the Minister of State update me on the Data Protection Commissioner's investigation? In the past 12 months has there any major cyberattack, of which he is aware, on any Government body?
I am not aware of any such attack. In the context of the data sharing and governance Bill, about which we will consult the Opposition after Christmas when we have dealt with other legislation on which we are consulting it, we will be conscious of the need to take concerns into account. While the Data Protection Commissioner is not going to give a clean bill of health, the commissioner has been given sight of the revised heads of the Bill. We have taken into account what happened in the pre-legislative scrutiny process on governance and data-sharing, the establishment of a governance board and the need to ensure we will have all of the checks and balances required as enunciated both at the committee and directly to the Department. The will be fleshed out further with the Opposition after Christmas.
3. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress of the capital review; if the ten-year plan will outline funding beyond the 2021 timeframe; the way in which it will co-ordinate with the national development plan; if it will it incorporate a review of the role of PPPs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53590/17]
The capital review plan has been announced many times. Will the Minister provide an update on it? I am conscious that he intends to link the capital review with the national planning framework, a document which is extremely flawed. It is only in the consultation phase. Will the roll-out of the national planning framework delay the national capital plan?
As previously outlined to the Deputy in response to his parliamentary question on this matter in September and at other points, I will bring forward a review of the capital plan that will highlight some key themes which will closely inform and be incorporated into the analysis leading to finalisation of the new ten-year plan for public capital investment for the period from 2018 to 2027. The themes include confirmation of the central role of public capital investment and addressing overheating risks, as well as supporting social progress, the need to align public capital investment with a changing demographic profile, the critical importance of public capital infrastructure in meeting the essential requirement for balanced regional growth and promoting the societal transformation required to achieve climate action objectives, responding to Brexit, driving value for money and having in place strong business cases to underpin important projects.
Based on this analysis, the review of the capital plan identified a number of key sectors as priorities for investment including transport, education, housing and health.
Consequently, between 2014 and 2021, public capital investment in Ireland will have more than doubled and as set out by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, this will see public investment in Ireland moving to among the highest in the EU. Capital expenditure will reach €7.8 billion in 2021, which is 3.5% of gross national income (Star), GNI*, and 11% of total voted expenditure.
As I have said on a number of occasions, it is my intention and that of the Government to integrate the capital plan with the national planning framework. The latter, as the Deputy correctly said, is out for consultation. I believe that consultation will conclude quite soon. Once that is finished, we will finalise the national planning framework which will, in turn, determine the capital plan and we aim to publish both early in the new year.
While I know it is not the responsibility of the Minister's Department, the national planning framework is a document that is causing serious concern. It has laid out choices with regard to the cities that are being selected but is leaving everything else to the regional assemblies in terms of spatial planning and, one would imagine, in terms of capital investment. Were we to publish the national planning framework in the first quarter of next year, there still would be a lot of work to be outlined for those areas and towns that have yet to be selected. Will the projects within the capital plan be put on hold until the full national planning framework is published or will the Minister go ahead with a capital plan in the context of the current version of the national planning framework?
We will go ahead with a capital plan once the input from the current consultation on the current draft plan is assessed and if any of it is taken on board. As for what the capital plan will look like, as Deputy Calleary is aware, the planning framework highlights a number of cities at present and beyond that, the framework will be influenced and led by regional assemblies. I do not anticipate that the ten-year capital plan will be able to detail every capital project undertaken in the country over the next decade. Work will need to go on at a regional level to translate the national planning framework into a reality, county by county. It is only when that work is done that we will be able to determine the full allocation of all of the planned expenditure. The capital plan will have a balance between identifying a number of projects and funds to ensure that the national approach is delivered, while still leaving flexibility in respect of many other parts of our State.
The International Monetary Fund, IMF, published a review of our infrastructure earlier this year and was generally positive about a lot of our infrastructural projects. However, it did state that the differing sectoral approaches to infrastructural development was an issue. It also noted that the state of our infrastructure was a barrier to progress. I presume the plan will deal with that but how are we going to deal with the differing sectoral approaches? Are we going to take an all-of-Government approach to infrastructural development and lay down certain standards? In that context, I welcome the fact that Luas cross-city came in under budget. Will the lessons of that project be learned and transferred across all capital spending?
There are two learnings that I have taken from the Luas cross-city project. The first is that if one has a State body that is led strongly with the right expertise in place and with a really clear mandate that is supported politically by its line Department, it can deliver complex projects on time and under budget. It is worth emphasising that Luas cross-city is a light rail project that, by and large, was built in the middle of our capital city and the complexities involved in that were immense. That is certainly something that I will be keeping in mind when we move forward.
Regarding the public investment management assessment, PIMA, report prepared by the IMF, the Deputy is correct that the IMF points out that in some areas, infrastructure is an impediment to realising all that we could do economically and socially. I have said the same on a number of occasions already. However, the IMF also said that in other areas, the quality and quantity of our infrastructural stock is positive. In response to the Deputy's questions on sectors, I intend that the capital plan will be multisectoral but there will be a balance. It is not realistic or achievable for the Government to say how every cent that may be available to the country will be spent over the next decade. We have to allow business cases to be made and we have to allow the national planning framework to be transferred into a reality in regions as well. As I said, we want to highlight and identify some key projects and then to create a framework for others.
4. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to revise the national capital plan in view of the climate advisory committee's report on the shortcomings of the national mitigation plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53817/17]
To continue the conversation about the national capital plan, how are we going to make it green? How is the Government going to respond to the climate advisory committee's damning criticism of our national mitigation plan? We are not doing anything, it seems. The latest Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, figures show our emissions rising across all sectors, particularly in transport. The plan within the national planning framework is all about inter-urban motorways. There are no public transport projects listed other than the metro. There is nothing else planned. What is the Minister going to do to change that?
I would urge the Deputy to hold his fire with regard to public transport until he sees the plan. He has already made up his mind even though the plan has not been published yet. He has many powers but I did not realise that he had the ability to read my mind.
I have read the national planning framework.
We might ask the Deputy to make some other predictions for the new year.
The lotto numbers would be good.
I urge the Deputy to wait until the plan is published before he makes his mind up on the nature of investment contained therein. I have said on a number of occasions that I recognise the value of public transport. However, I also must recognise that there are multiple reasons for going ahead with road projects. Much as I would like it to be, public transport cannot be the answer to connectivity for all parts of our country. We have certain road links that need to be safer and of a better quality than they are at present. If I do not respond to that need, I run the risk of creating other difficulties in the future.
If the Deputy looks at the four-year capital allocations the Government has just published, he will see that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport received more than €1 billion extra. The Department is prioritising and focusing on many projects, including public transport. In the recent budget, an additional €200 million in capital funding was allocated to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment for the period up to 2021. This has allowed for a step change in efforts to achieve Ireland's energy efficiency targets and renewable energy objectives in the context of moving towards a low-carbon environment.
As I have said on a number of occasions, an objective of the plan that is being drafted at present to ascertain what progress we can make from a planning and capital point of view towards genuine sustainability.
There is nothing in the national planning framework or in any recent Government publications about the DART interconnector, light rail for Cork or Galway or any of the public transport projects the Green Party would want in our cities. I cannot read crystal balls or predict the future but I read Government documents and ask parliamentary questions and I see nothing happening. I have listened to the climate advisory committee, which has indicated there is a problem. Does the Minister admit that we have a problem with rising emissions? In a recent priority question, I asked about the price of carbon and the Minister said that in the capital plan assessment, the price for carbon is €7 per tonne. I asked every serious economist I could find, experts in the field, about this and they all replied that if we were serious, we would be doing what the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are doing and setting the price at €40 per tonne immediately. Will the Minister do that and run it as a rule through his capital plan? Does he admit that we have a problem, with emissions rising across every sector? I can see nothing in the Government's plans to tackle this. He said that we have done this, that and the other in the budget but it is not working. Will he admit that? What will he do to change?
I want our country to do better on climate change. The national planning framework will not reference capital projects. It is not its role to do so, rather it is the role of the capital plan. The capital plan will make provision for how we can do better in responding to the challenge of climate change and that is something we need to do.
As the Deputy is well aware, the long-term response to all of this is how we better plan and organise our country. A major element of the national planning framework at the moment is how to ensure that cities are developed in a more sustainable way. If we get sustainable development and higher densities of population in our cities, that facilitates, in turn, the roll-out of more public transport projects. In turn, that facilitates the delivery of a better kind of planning to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated in the coming years.
I bring to my case again the Citizens' Assembly. The assembly did a fantastic job. There was exasperation among the assembly members at the lack of leadership from within Government. Sticking to the area of transport, one of the recommendations of the assembly was to switch the transport budget, currently under the watch of the Minister, from 2:1 in favour of roads over sustainable transport modes. The assembly members said this would show that the Government is serious about change and would back up its words.
It is not only about climate change. The policy is not working. This city is gridlocking. It is being killed at the moment for the lack of public transport expenditure. If we are serious about creating living cities that are vibrant economic and low carbon, then the Government should do what the Citizens' Assembly said and switch the transport budget ratio so that it is 2:1 in favour of sustainable transport rather than roads. Will the Minister commit to this Citizens' Assembly proposal as one of the ways in which we can start changing things?
As the Deputy will no doubt be aware – I am sure he has welcomed it – we have just had the opening of Luas Cross City this week. That is an example of the kind of public transport of which we need more.
I am aware of the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly, but the assembly has the ability to consider each item in isolation whereas I do not. I have to pull everything together in the aggregate. I have to ensure all of the expenditure plans across all of Government equate to a figure that equals the amount of tax we are going to raise and the additional funding that we are going to borrow.
Moreover, I have to deal with issues with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, and his Department in respect of road safety, regional connectivity and how we can do that in an affordable way. I emphasise again my strong intention that when we publish the capital plan in the first quarter of next year, and I intend to publish it early in the first quarter, it will have an even more strengthened investment component to deal with the challenge of climate change.
We will move on to Question No. 6 now even though Questions Nos. 5, 9 and 18 are grouped together. We will wait until we get to Question No. 9 for them.
