Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount spent of the €3.8 billion provided for 2016 under the capital plan; if he is satisfied that the money allocated has been spent efficiently; the way in which he is satisfied that the money has been spent efficiently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18708/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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This is almost a continuation of the earlier discussion in terms of allocating capital budgets on the one hand but, on the other, monitoring how they are being spent and ensuring they are spent.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The capital plan, when published in 2015, set out an Exchequer envelope of €27 billion for the period 2016 to 2021. The Government strongly recognised the need for increased investment in Ireland's public infrastructure and used economic growth at that point to increase capital expenditure. The provisional outturn of gross voted capital expenditure in 2016 was €4.1 billion. This was noted in the recently published end of quarter 1 of 2017 Exchequer returns. The report noted that expenditure pressures may arise in the transport area following the flooding at the start of 2016 which in turn was recognised in the outturns for capital expenditure in 2016.

As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I am responsible for monitoring the deployment of Exchequer capital expenditure. Funding is made available to individual Departments. Each Department must ensure that individual projects and investment proposals are subject to all relevant appraisal processes. I make every effort to ensure capital funding made available to Departments is spent in the year in which it is made available. When a carryover is possible, it is facilitated, as we did this year for all Departments. However, with the social pressure we have to deal with, some of which can be attributed to the need to increase capital investment, funding is made available in a particular year at a particular point to deliver projects. It should be spent in the way it is committed.

Public housing investment for the first few months of this year is many multiples of where we were last year. That is what I expect to see happen and I expect it to continue throughout this year.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In terms of the Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, the outturn for 2016 of €467 million is under the €539 million projection. That comes back to my first question in terms of what is happening in housing.

The Minister leaves it to every line Department and tries to keep it within the budget, but how much of the €4.1 billion was actually spent? How much of it went into projects on the ground?

Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII among other organisations, has raised the issue of the length of time it takes to initiate any capital project in this country at the moment. Is the Minister looking at the length of time it takes to get a project, be it a school or a road, from the planning stage, through the funding process and to site? Does he consider it a problem?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Overall levels of capital expenditure have been the subject of much debate in this House. The Irish Business Employers Confederation, IBEC, recently published a commentary and views on the matter. It is important that we are clear on what the figures are. In 2013, the State invested €3.4 billion in capital expenditure. For 2017, it is €4.5 billion. It is an increase of €1 billion over a four-year period. Next year, it will go up to €5.3 billion, which is an increase of nearly 50% on 2013. Our plan up to 2021 is to see that capital investment increase to €7.3 billion.

The Deputy makes a fair point on the length of time involved in spending that money.

There are two reasons for that timeline, first, the need for us to go through a public procurement and tendering process which must be done to ensure that Irish and international companies have a chance to give us the best value for the money I am referring to and, second, the planning process. While that is a matter for the Minister, Deputy Coveney, any change to that would be contested. A change has been made relating to housing projects above a certain size. It is the right of citizens who live near areas in which infrastructure or housing is to be put in place to make their views known, but I want to see the figures I referred to spent in the year in which we make the money available.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Government will meet the medium term objective next year in terms of the structural budget. That will then free up resources for capital expenditure in budget 2019. The Minister is currently in the middle of a capital plan review, but in terms of that pipleline, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has told us there are not enough projects to go into that pipeline.

In terms of planning for budget 2019 and the capital projections for that, will the Minister confirm that he will be making announcements this October pending the capital plan review in terms of budget 2018? What signals will he give to agencies to start preparing projects in that when we are in a situation in budget 2019 to invest more in capital that they will have projects on which to spend it?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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It is my intention to make progress well before October on the process I have referred to. Before the summer, I aim to publish a paper that will provide an update to the House on the position with all capital commitments throughout the country and give an indication of the kind of capital investment we believe will be needed here in the next decade. I want to take stock of where we are now and where we are likely to go in the future.

On the second question, it is my intention in the second half of this year, and it may or may not coincide with budget day as I have not made a decision on that yet, to make announcements on individual projects because there is a need for clarity on where we stand with existing commitments, let alone our ability to make new commitments. I would like to bring that to a conclusion in the second half of this year.