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National Development Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 April 2022

Thursday, 28 April 2022

Ceisteanna (109)

James O'Connor

Ceist:

109. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding funding certainty for capital projects in the national development plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21469/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level.  The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects, within the allocations agreed under the National Development Plan 2021 - 2030 (NDP), rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case.

The Government has committed €165 billion for capital investment as set out in the NDP published last October.  In 2022, almost €12 billion has been made available to Departments to spend on vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action.

The NDP includes indicative Exchequer allocations for each Department for a five year period (2021 to 2025) and overall capital expenditure ceilings out to 2030.  This expenditure is aimed at supporting the delivery of the ten National Strategic Outcomes identified in the National Planning Framework (NPF).  However, it is important to note that the NDP is fundamentally a high-level financial and budgetary plan, which sets out the framework and broad direction for investment priorities and is not a comprehensive list of all public investment projects that will take place over the next ten years.

Where sufficient planning and evaluation has already taken place 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 NPF vision. All of these commitments require evaluation along with the development of business cases in line with the requirements set out in the Public Spending Code before they are formally approved for implementation.  

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