Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
449. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the breakdown by project for the capital allocation of €174 million in 2018 to his Vote group; the breakdown by project for the proposed allocation of €203 million in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35281/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to provide the Deputy with a breakdown of the capital allocation of €174 million in 2018 and €203 million in 2019 to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Vote Group and they are as follows:
The Office of Public Works (OPW) capital allocation for 2018 is €155 million as published in the Revised Estimates 2018 with the bulk of this allocation being afforded to key programmes of Flood Risk Management and New Works, Alterations and Additions. The Government has given a commitment to delivering further capital works / flood relief schemes to reduce and minimise the impacts of river and coastal flooding on society through the roll-out of the Flood Risk Management Plans.
The OPW capital allocation for 2019 provides for a baseline allocation of €183 million. This represents a €28 million increase on the OPW capital allocation for 2018 of €155 million. The OPW capital allocation comprises of two key programmes namely Flood Risk Management and Estate Management portfolio. The Government is committed to the policy objective of delivering further capital works / flood relief schemes to minimise the impacts of river and coastal flooding on society through the continuance of the Flood Risk Management Plans. It is a matter for the OPW to prioritise and implement flood risk management programmes as appropriate. I am advised that the OPW will advance a number of projects within the Estate Portfolio Management programme including investment in a number of state owned properties, an acquisition and disposals programme, a retrofit programme and increased infrastructure investment at heritage sites. Again, it is a matter for the OPW to prioritise specific projects and expenditure in this area.
The position in relation to the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) is over €10 million of their capital allocation for 2018 is allocated to the development and roll-out of the Financial Management Shared Services Project, the single financial management system to serve Government Departments and public service bodies. Similarly, the Capital baseline allocation for 2019 for the NSSO is €11 million. The key programme for which this capital allocation will be utilised in 2019 is also the Financial Management Shared Services Project.
The Public Appointments Service received a capital allocation of €1.5m for 2018. €750,000 was allocated towards a programme of upgrades to their premises in Chapter House with the remaining €750,000 allocated for the replacement and upgrade of the Public Appointments Service IT recruitment platform.
The Public Appointments Service were allocated €3.5 million for the upgrade / replacement of the ICT systems, in particular, the IT online recruitment platform over the period 2019 -2021. This was provided following an independent review of their current system in 2017 and the core recommendation was that the current system should be replaced. It is intended that €1 million of this allocation will be spent on ICT systems development in 2019. The Public Appointments Service has also been allocated €1 million to carry out necessary capital upgrade works to Chapter House in 2019.
My own Department was given a capital allocation of €5.2 million in 2018 with over €3 million of this allocation provided for a number of projects being carried out in the Office of the Chief Government Information Officer.
The Office of Government Procurement's (OGP) allocation for 2018 is €960k as published in the Revised Estimates Volume. This bulk of this capital investment is primarily being invested Procurement Consultancy.
The capital allocation for my Department in 2019 will be €5 million and for the Office of Government Procurement will be €1 million. The purpose of the capital investment undertaken by my Department and the OGP is to deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency across the Civil and Public Service through reform initiatives set out in ambitious reform plans, such as Our Public Service 2020 and the Public Service ICT Strategy. This capital expenditure is primarily invested in ICT systems.
