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

As Minister for public expenditure, I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at departmental level. The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects, within the allocations agreed under the national development plan, rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case. Expenditure is allocated and monitored on a departmental basis and not a geographical basis. The Deputy is aware of the overall €165 billion funding we are allocating over the lifetime of the plan. In 2024, more than €13 billion will be provided. We aim to maximise transparency regarding how that money is spent through a public capital investment tracker, through a map that allows us to see projects that are being delivered, and through regular updates of both. We have also published regional reports on Project Ireland 2040 and the three regional assembly areas. We did that for all of the years between 2018 and 2020.

I will highlight a few of the projects that are under way in Donegal, given the fact the Deputy mentioned it. He will be aware of what they are anyway, but still. They include the ocean innovation centre Ireland project; the N56 Dungloe to Glenties road project; the number of residential care facilities that are being completed, upgraded or built, including the Letterkenny community nursing unit and St. Joseph's in Stranorlar; social housing projects in Convent Road, Carndonagh, and other projects delivering in excess of 100,000 units in 2023; the Killybegs town regeneration project; important educational projects; and around 200 km of greenways which will be delivered by 2031, including the Inishowen to Buncrana greenway, which I hope will be a great amenity for the communities it will support.

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