Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 20 October 2022
Public Accounts Committee
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 3 - Vote Accounting and Budget Management
Chapter 4 - Reallocation of Voted Funding
9:30 am
James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I want to move on as I do not think we are getting anywhere. With regard to the funding envelope for the NDP as described, I want Mr. Moloney to bring that away and to look at the State agencies. There is An Bord Pleanála, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the relevant Department, the local authority and now, to add insult to injury, the Office of the Planning Regulator seems to be increasing its interventions, for example, in county development plans. All of these are essential, along with Cabinet approval and, therefore, there are six major steps when it comes to getting a capital project effectively on the road. Does Mr. Moloney think that process could be streamlined to potentially save the taxpayer billions of euro? I will give one example. If we were to implement a strategic policy unit within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the delivery of capital projects, with a representative from the relevant Department in each area, for example, the Department of Transport, and people from the local authority in the relevant area where the project is happening, does Mr. Moloney think that would be appropriate or could be done from a statutory point of view?