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

My Department is responsible for maintaining the national frameworks within which Departments operate to ensure appropriate accounting for and value for money in public expenditure, for example, the PSC. This code sets the value for money requirements and guidance for evaluating, planning and managing capital projects. The management and delivery of investment projects and public services within allocation and the national frameworks is a key responsibility of every Department and Minister.

The PSC sets out the oversight and approval process for public expenditure proposals, which are incremental in nature, progressing through decision gates 0 to 3 in terms of a project life cycle. Decision gate 0 requires a strategic assessment report, decision gate 1 requires a preliminary business case, decision gate 2 requires a detailed project brief and procurement strategy, and decision gate 3 requires a final business case. Government approval is required for proposals with an estimated cost of over €100 million. Government approval is required for a preliminary business case, that is, the Government must approve decision gate 1. Government approval is required for design, planning and procurement at decision gate 2 to proceed to tender. Government approval for the final business case must be secured at decision gate 3 to award a contract.

My Department, while responsible for maintaining the PSC, is not the approver for projects under the code. Therefore, we do not hold data related to details of projects approved under it. However, an extensive list of projects that are planned as part of Project Ireland 2040 is provided for in the investment projects and programme tracker, which was updated in May. The tracker provides a composite update on the progress of all major investments with an estimated cost of more than €20 million. In addition, the MyProjectIreland interactive map includes details of 1,100 projects around the country. There are also regional reports, including the one published for the northern and western region, which set out project details for each year up to 2021.

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