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

I thank the Deputy for the question. As the Deputy is aware from the various points she has put to me, the Economic and Social Research Institute published its report,The National Development Plan in 2023: Priorities and Capacity, on 12 January 2024.

It is important to reiterate the rationale behind why I commissioned this report by the ESRI. A comprehensive review of the national development plan, NDP, was undertaken over the course of 2020 and 2021, which led to the publication of an updated NDP in October 2021. Since then the €165 billion NDP has supported a broad range of infrastructure projects and programmes which our country and citizens need and require. However, of course I acknowledge that the challenges posed in the intervening period since October 2021 such as full employment and heightened inflationary pressures were not anticipated to the extent experienced at the time of updating the NDP. As a result, in March I informed the Government of a package of significant actions aimed at enhancing project delivery of the NDP of which one was to commission an independent evaluation of NDP priorities and capacities.

The ESRI published its final report in January 2024. The report is currently informing ministerial colleagues, officials and me as we engage with Departments on their NDP allocations to 2026. In this context, the report is providing valuable input to this process in the consideration of key issues such as the capacity to deliver priorities and utilise capital allocations in an economy characterised by full employment facing significant supply constraints.

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