Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 89, 112, 147, 153 and 156 together.

The programme for Government sets out the clear ambition to prioritise the delivery of transformative, critical and growth-enhancing infrastructure over the next five years.  To support these goals, Government has prioritised an early review of the national development plan, which is being led by my Department.

From February, officials in my Department set about identifying the parameters, priorities and critical milestones for the review. This was done to support the ambition of the review to improve our infrastructure, especially housing, water, energy, transport and health digitalisation.

In early April, I secured Government approval to commence the review process following which Departments were written to, to advise on the Government's approved approach to the review. The core focus of the review will be to ensure that supporting economic infrastructure can be prioritised to deliver the tens of thousands of additional homes that are required and to support our broader competitiveness.

Throughout April and early May, Departments have prepared their funding submissions and this has been followed by bilateral engagement between my Department and individual spending Departments to assess investment plans and programmes. This series of bilateral engagements commenced at official level and is currently continuing and has commenced fully at ministerial level.

Alongside the review process, Departments have also been asked to consider whether their planned programmes meet the criteria for designated environmental projects to receive funding from the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. An amount of €3.15 billion is available from the fund out to 2030 and is part of the overall funding envelope. In addition, a wider assessment is being carried out around the climate impact of the funding as part of the NDP and that will be published alongside the review document in July.

I am also launching a public consultation on the review which will be open for submissions until 26 June. The consultation is an opportunity for individuals, Members or, indeed, organisations to share their views on national priorities for public capital investment. I will also be chairing a session on infrastructure prioritisation and delivery at the national economic dialogue, where interested stakeholders will have the opportunity to share their views across many sectors.

Intensive engagement at both official and ministerial level has commenced and the intention is to publish a review document in July that will feature five year capital allocations to Departments over the period 2026 to 2030 and overall capital ceilings to 2035.

While particular allocations obviously have yet to be agreed, the objective is to support what is set out in the programme for Government and, in particular, the delivery of thousands of additional homes and to boost our overall competitiveness.

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