Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 15 July 2021

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not be able to cover all that or anything like it in a minute, but I will make a couple of brief points. I have heard what the Deputy said about the public spending code. It is there to protect the interests of taxpayers. It kept under review. Significant changes were made in 2019. It is important that we have safeguards in place because in general, the better the homework is done prior to a project turning a sod the likelihood is improved of fewer problems later on. This is important, and a point worth making. I am introducing reforms through the setting up of a major project advisory group, which will advise my Department and others about the efficient delivery of infrastructure projects. I am also setting up a panel of experts to try to guide sponsoring bodies, Departments and other public bodies through the system in as seamless a way as possible.

The safeguards are there to protect both the interests of taxpayers and public money. We all know that it can go badly wrong if stages are skipped. I will take on board and examine the points made by Deputy Canney. The Deputy made a number of points on the planning system. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, brought before the Cabinet in recent days a number of proposals to improve the planning system through the replacement of the strategic housing development process with a new process that involves certain stages that are time bound. The imposition of time limits is important.

We made a very significant health investment in budget 2021. We are committed to the implementation of Sláintecare. This involves significant public investment over the next years, including reforms such as the delivery of a new public-only consultant Sláintecare contract. It will be very important.

We are very conscious of the impact of inflation on construction. We are monitoring this very closely. The tools the Government has at its disposal are limited because many of the factors are external in nature, such as those relating to supply chains, shortages of products, the impact of Brexit and so on. The Office of Government Procurement is doing a lot of work in monitoring the impact of this and putting measures in place to mitigate the impact. I will be bringing a memorandum to Government on this issue very shortly.

I reassure the Deputy that the objective of achieving balanced regional development will be core to the national development plan, which is a subset of Project Ireland 2040. There will be very significant opportunities for the regions in the NDP. The Deputy has touched on the remote working and blended working that we are likely to see in the future. I have agreed a policy statement from Government with regard to moving towards blended working across the Civil Service. I expect this will also happen across the wider public service. This will give rise to many opportunities.

There will also be funding through the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF. We will have approximately €1 billion in respect of the PEACE PLUS programme, which will not just be for Northern Ireland but the Border counties as well. I expect, therefore, there will be much opportunity and investment available for the regions over the next number of years.

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