Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of mid-term capital review; if it will provide specific estimates of key projects; if it will earmark funding to specific projects; when he expects the review to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40449/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The summer economic statement gave a commitment to increase the public capital plan by 17%. The Minister published a glossy document at the beginning of September relating to the review of the current plan. Can he give assurances that this is not more of the Government spin, which has been the hallmark of its first 100 days in office, that there will be substance to this capital plan and that it will make a difference to communities across the country, including those about which we have just spoken? How does he intend to align it with the national planning framework the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is preparing?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is aware, as acknowledged, I published the review of the capital plan on 14 September and a copy of the report was made available to each Deputy on that day.

The review of the plan draws on an evidence base that included submissions by Departments and offices, an extensive public consultation and an infrastructure capacity and demand analysis completed by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, IGEES, in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

I also published for the first time a capital tracker, which lists a range of projects and programmes committed to by Departments over the period of the capital plan. Copies of the documentation and the capital tracker can be found on the website of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

The review of the plan highlights some key themes, which will closely inform and be incorporated into the analysis, which will then lead to the finalisation of the new ten-year national investment plan. These themes include confirmation of the central role of public capital in underpinning the long-term growth of our economy and society; the need to align public capital investment priorities to a changing society and changing demographics; the critical importance of public capital infrastructure to deliver balanced development across our country; the need to respond to Brexit; the central importance of making sure that money is spent well; and that a solid business case is in place for important public spending.

Based on this analysis, the review of the plan has identified a number of sectors such as priorities for investment, including transport, education and housing. The findings of this review will assist Government in selecting priorities for the allocation of €4.1 billion up to the period to 2021. Consequently, between 2014 and 2021, public capital expenditure in Ireland will have more than doubled and as set out by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, this will see public investment in Ireland moving to among the highest in the EU. The Government will make final decisions on the allocation of this funding in the context of the 2018 Estimates.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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When does the Minister expect to publish the plan? How will it align with the work the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is doing on the national planning framework? The document the Minister published, the review of the capital plan, highlights broadband as an area for prioritisation. He may have heard in the last hour or so that SIRO has pulled out of the national broadband tendering process. Does that suggest to him that a company made up of Vodafone and ESB has no confidence in a process? What action will the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform take to ensure the effectiveness of the national broadband process in light of that? What action will the Minister take to ensure that all the provisions of the capital plan are implemented in a manner that is effective and efficient and without causing capacity issues for the economy?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the Deputy's first question, the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and I aim to publish the ten-year plan in December. Regarding his second point on broadband, the role of my Department has been purely confined to making sure there is enough of a capital allocation to support the tendering process. Any decisions regarding who is tendering for it and the implementation of that process is for the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten. I will leave it to him to comment on the information the Deputy shared with the House.

In terms of making sure the capital plan will then be implemented, the reason we are now publishing the capital tracker I referred to earlier is to ensure that in regard to specific projects that have been committed to in the public plan, the public and the Oireachtas can see where they stand in terms of implementation. We can see the fruits of that in terms of the last plan that is in its final phase of implementation such as the Gort to Tuam road, Luas cross city, progress on the national children's hospital and, for example, the recent progress that has been made in delivering another 14 primary care centres through use of public private partnerships, PPPs.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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First, the Minister's response to my broadband question highlights a problem I have, namely, who is in charge of making sure the plan is delivered? If the Minister leaves it to each line Minister, who is in charge of making sure he or she does his or her job? Is it not the Minister's job to make sure that they spend the money and spend it properly?

Second, the Minister mentioned PPPs. Does he envisage a role for PPPs and will that role perhaps involve an expansion of the money within the capital plan?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the first question, I am absolutely responsible for the allocation of capital funding and making sure it is spent in the way that is agreed with other Departments. In regard to the policy area for the roll-out of the broadband process, all issues and decisions relating to tendering are a matter for the Minister, Deputy Naughten, although I support and work with him in any way he requires and that I can.

Regarding public private partnerships, the review we have under way of capital expenditure that will culminate in the ten-year capital plan will include an assessment of the use we may make of public private partnerships in the future. All of that must be set against the fact that when we used public private partnerships in the past, we did them at a point at which the country was not able to borrow. Now that we are able to borrow, we have to look at the use of those funding schemes in a new light, which I am currently doing.