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

I thank the Deputy for raising this question on behalf of Deputy Lawless. The Supporting Excellence: Capital Project and Programme Review Delivery report to which the Deputy referred was produced by EY for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and funded by the European Commission’s structural reform support programme. It is a key interim output for the ongoing review of the national development plan, NDP.

The report identifies a range of strengths and weaknesses in the public capital delivery system. It highlights that there are many examples of best practice throughout the public service but there are also some areas where enhancements are required. It identifies that these challenges are experienced most acutely by those entities and sectors that have limited experience in substantial capital programme delivery, or those which, through a hiatus of investment activity over a number of years, have had their expertise and resource base eroded. However, the capability challenges vary by sector and entity and they need to be better understood and addressed on this basis.

The report proposes several solutions to the various challenges but recognises that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution and the need for supports and initiatives must be tailored to the entity, sector and industry challenges. The report also recommends that when assessing the maturity of programme capability, a focus should be placed upon the sectors and sector programmes which do not currently have a singular asset delivery specialist but are forecasting increased activity and scale through their mandate under the NDP. Many of the solutions being proposed in the report are supportive of the reform agenda already under way, including developing an external assurance review process for major infrastructure projects and connecting construction professionals, while other recommendations address a need for clear and co-ordinated supports from the centre.

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