Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----sustainable technician jobs 12 months per year. These high-value jobs would sustain the industry there and would give this island an opportunity, as its population continues to grow, to be rebalanced in terms of spatial planning, in terms of the economy and in terms of being rebalanced away from Dublin. As a Dublin TD it is strategically in my interests to limit the growth of a city on a coast and to make sure that balanced regional development happens elsewhere.

The single most important investment that has been made over the past five years has been investment in the national broadband plan, which was opposed by absolutely everybody as I recall. It was the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and a Fine Gael Government that pushed it through. It was very fortunate it did so in the context of Covid-19, remote working and the opportunity to work differently. In 2023 more than €12 billion will be made available from the Exchequer for investment in public capital projects which will provide more schools, homes, hospitals and other vital infrastructure. That level of expenditure will be pivotal in consolidating the progress already made and, most importantly, in delivering the necessary infrastructure to support our future climate change obligations as well as our social and economic requirements. Nobody is in any doubt about the need to ensure timely project delivery must be an essential part of that. There is no point in having the money unless it is delivered to meet the challenges of our time, particularly in housing, health and climate change.

The renaming of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform has brought about a greater focus within the Department. This is led by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and has a mandate for the delivery of the national development plan, NDP. In light of this new role, a review of support structures and levers available across the Government to maximise delivery of projects was undertaken. There is a much stronger role for the Department in making sure things are done. As a result, a series of actions and reforms have been identified as priorities to improve delivery of NDP projects, including reducing the administrative burden on Departments charged with infrastructure delivery. Earlier this year, the Government approved six priority actions which are significant changes to reduce the administrative burden in delivering major capital projects through measures to streamline the public spending code to become the infrastructure guidelines. The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform is taking a direct role in overseeing delivery of the NDP through chairing the Project Ireland 2040 delivery board. Capacity reviews of Departments and agencies with significant delivery programmes are to be carried out, where appropriate, to ensure adequate resources for project delivery are in place. There will be additional reforms to the capital works management framework, which sets out the contracts used for public capital projects. There will be direct reporting to the Government of NDP delivery on a quarterly basis throughout 2023 and 2024, and an independent evaluation of NDP priorities and capacity. That package is a fresh approach and a necessary approach to securing the delivery of the NDP, which is of course our capital investment programme.

The Minister with responsibility for the NDP is confident that the combination of the six priority actions will boost delivery of the critical infrastructure needed to support the growing economy and higher living standards for those living here. As mentioned earlier by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, the Government is committed to detailing progress on the delivery of the NDP at regular intervals into the future to allow for the transparency of the implementation of Project Ireland 2040 across an extensive range of capital projects and programmes, all of which benefit different parts of Ireland. It is essential that they are delivered in a timely way. The Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and interactive map will continue to be updated on a regular basis and will detail the outline of the project, the Department or body responsible for delivering it, and the location and region of the project. In line with the material detailed in this Private Members' Bill, the tracker and map may also detail the construction commencement date of the project, the completion or anticipated project completion date, the current stage of the project life cycle as per the public spending code, and information on the project cost range. It is essential that when the Government sets aside money for capital development infrastructure, it creates a balanced regional development programme and the projects are in fact delivered. It is clear that there needs to be oversight and transparency of this kind. I hope it will give Deputies confidence that projects are being developed in their areas, their regions and their constituencies, that they can clearly see the expectations set, and that they can hold the relevant Departments and agencies to account on the delivery of the relevant projects.

As also set out earlier by the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform will continue to publish the Project Ireland 2040 annual reports in the years ahead. These reports highlight the delivery of publicly funded capital projects throughout the country each year. Further to the annual reports, three regional reports for the eastern and midlands region, the northern and western region, and the southern region will also be published. I thank Deputy Shanahan for his focus on delivery for all of the regions. There has been significant capital investment in this State over the past number of years. We are in the fortunate position of being able to do that after a period when no capital investment projects were able to be supported because of the downturn in public finances. We have the public finances to be able to deliver capital infrastructure. We are a very significantly growing economy. We are unique in Europe in many respects as regards having the budget surpluses to be able to invest in capital projects. It is essential that notwithstanding construction unemployment of approximately 2% and the challenges that raises, we are able to deliver infrastructure projects for the benefit of our citizens. Notwithstanding the supply chain and construction unemployment constraints, we cannot allow the delivery of projects to be delayed because of administrative burdens or inefficiencies. The Minister is absolutely squarely focused on making sure that does not happen. He is accountable to the House for that, but he is also accountable through various enhanced transparency measures, which I hope will be of assistance to Deputies. I thank Deputy Shanahan for his work on this.

See this speech in context