Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The role of my Department is in respect of the monitoring of overall expenditure by Departments. Of course, individual Departments play a key role in individual projects. The management and delivery of individual projects within the overall capital allocation is primarily the responsibility of the relevant sponsoring Department and Minister.

A public investment management assessment, PIMA, mission to Ireland was undertaken by the IMF in July 2017, which assessed our management of public capital resources compared with what would be expected in an advanced economy. Its final report was published on my Department's website on 10 November 2017.

The PIMA report concluded that, overall, Ireland manages its public infrastructure relatively well.

It highlights both strengths and weaknesses and contains a number of recommendations to improve future performance in terms of the efficiency of public capital investment. The national development plan, published in February 2018, sets out planned improvements for the management of capital spend, drawing in particular on the 2017 PIMA report.

More generally, in the context of the ongoing review of the public spending code, I will be giving consideration to how the current arrangements for procurement and management of major capital works contracts can be further refined and enhanced, with a view to maintaining and strengthening the focus upon value for money.

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