Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, we will review the national development plan to identify a new ambition and focus on overall delivery. What we have set out previously, for example, in regard to the state aid case concerning Apple, is that the strategic priorities of our economy are housing, water, energy and transport infrastructure. The other pillar is health digitalisation. That has been a missed opportunity for too long. It is hugely important in the context of our healthcare infrastructure. The fragmentation and limitation of the digitalisation of our health system have undermined overall productivity and value for money but also the support for patient care and outcomes. We can support healthcare workers and professionals in their day-to-day jobs given the opportunities that presents.

They are some of the strategic priorities that we have set out. That will be reflected in the context of the review of the NDP. Complementing the overall capital allocation we aim to try to drive better delivery across the board. As we are establishing a new division, that is what we are currently scoping out from a skills perspective. Separate to that is how we identify some of the areas where there were delays in advancing projects in the past in order to try and accelerate their delivery. We have pretty ambitious commitments to ensure the NDP review is conducted and completed by the summer of this year. Then it is about trying to underpin that in the context of a multi-annual plan. We are driving that on.

We have a lot of work ongoing in the context of the Apple escrow and also other funds. We are working with the Department of Finance on that specific strategic infrastructure. If we take the overall housing supply in our economy, we have set new housing targets. The key to unlocking that is energy, water and transport infrastructure in particular. They are key to driving overall housing delivery. Accelerating that will be central to our new national development plan.

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