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

I thank Deputy Dillon very much for his question. The update to the public spending code in 2019 combined, with lessons learned from domestic projects and international best practice, highlighted the need for more structured scrutiny of major public investment projects, particularly in the areas of planned delivery, costings and risk. This is to ensure that Government is making decisions with a full picture of the proposal, its costs, risks and benefits. The revised national development plan, NDP, pledges to restructure the oversight and implementation of capital projects to strengthen scrutiny of major public investment proposals and drive improved project performance and value for money. It is important to acknowledge that the majority of public investment projects are delivered on budget and on time and there is a high level of professionalism across the sectors. However, having recognised the higher-risk profile of larger projects, new procedures have been introduced in order to improve project outturns, avoid cost overruns and avoid scheduled delays.

As the Depuity is aware, my Department has put in place an external assurance process, EAP, to provide independent project scrutiny at key decision stages. This will involve independent expert reviews at two key stages in the project life cycle under the public spending code. The purpose of this is to improve value for money and to support funding Departments and the Government with expert insight. This process is for major public capital projects which cost in excess of €100 million. Very often, the public spending code and the external insurance process can get blamed for delays where that process does not even apply. This process focuses on issues such as cost, risk and ability to deliver.

As the Deputy will be aware, a new major projects advisory group has been established to further strengthen project management. As a prerequisite to seeking Government approval for projects at the relevant decision points, project proposals and external reviews will be scrutinised by the advisory group. These new arrangements bring Ireland into line with leading international performers and meet a recommendation of the International Monetary Fund's public investment management assessment of Ireland. It is my assessment that these safeguards will not delay projects but are there to streamline them and to avoid mistakes and risks materialising.

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It should be noted that timelines associated with public spending code compliance are a fraction of the time required for compliance with the range of statutory requirements such as planning, environmental impact assessment, habitats directive and appropriate assessment. In addition, many public spending code steps can be undertaken in parallel with other project development phases. Experience in countries that have introduced similar independent assurance processes shows that such arrangements reduce project schedule delay and project cost overrun.

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