Richard Bruton
Question:54. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he will outline the progress in reviewing the NDP. [31025/23]
View answerTuesday, 27 June 2023
Questions (54)
Written answers
As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments. Over the lifetime of the National Development Plan from 2021 to 2030, the Government is investing €165 billion in new and upgraded infrastructure that will meet the needs of our growing population.
This year alone over €12 billion will be invested from the Exchequer in vital infrastructure projects. The NDP includes agreed Exchequer allocations for each Department for a five year period (2021 to 2025) and the overall capital expenditure ceilings out to 2030. The capital expenditure ceilings take account of the overall capability of the construction sector to deliver on the NDP, and represents a solid pipeline that will have a transformative impact on employment opportunities, economic development and regional growth.
However, no one is in any doubt that the need to ensure timely project delivery is a part of the Government’s focus to respond effectively to the pressing challenges of our time, particularly in areas like housing, health and climate. The renaming of my Department as the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR), to specifically include NDP Delivery, has brought about a greater emphasis and mandate for the delivery of the NDP. In light of this new role, a review of the support structures and levers available across Government to maximise delivery of projects was undertaken. As a result, a series of actions and reforms were identified as priorities to improve delivery of NDP projects, including reducing the administrative burden on Departments charged with infrastructure delivery. Earlier this year, I secured Government approval for six priority actions which are:
• Significant changes to reduce the administrative burden in delivering major capital projects, through measures to streamline the Public Spending Code (to become the Infrastructure Guidelines);
• I am now taking a direct role in overseeing delivery of the NDP through chairing the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board;
• Capacity reviews of departments and agencies with significant delivery programmes to be carried out, where appropriate, to ensure that adequate resources for project delivery are in place;
• Additional reforms to the Capital Works Management Framework, which sets out the contracts used for public capital projects;
• Direct reporting to Government on NDP delivery on a quarterly basis throughout 2023 and 2024 and
• An independent review of NDP priorities and capacity.
The independent mid-term review of investment priorities and capacity of the NDP is currently ongoing, focusing on the capacity to deliver current Government priorities, to utilise sectoral capital allocations and to estimate the impact of the NDP on key economic indicators. This analysis will inform the overall capital expenditure ceilings for 2026 to 2028.