Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

57. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the infrastructure guidelines will lead to reform within individual Departments in the context of capital projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17727/24]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The infrastructure guidelines replace the public spending code. Changes to the public sector spending code were announced early last year. It took until the end of the year before the infrastructure guidelines were published. How long will it be before we see the reforms adopted by the Departments? Most importantly, how will the Minister's Department measure the effectiveness of this change?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputy very much. The infrastructure guidelines were indeed published in December. They had an effective date of 1 January 2024. As a result, they are already in effect. My Department has refreshed the requirements for capital projects in the new infrastructure guidelines, reducing the number of approval stages prior to implementation from five to three and streamlining the requirements for major projects, raising the level of cost at which a project is considered major to €200 million. This allows for projects below this limit to proceed more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process compared with those of greater scale and complexity. The guidelines also provide clarification regarding the role of Accounting Officers, better reflect the carbon and environment impact of our proposals and reflect changes arising from recommendations put forward by the major projects advisory group. That is just a quick reminder of what they are. They are effective as of the start of this year.

On the Deputy's final point as to when we believe they will be effective, the anecdotal feedback I get from Departments and State agencies is that they are making a difference to the evaluation of projects and the speed at which they move through. As to when we will see the impact they are actually having on the commencement of projects, truthfully it will probably be early next year. It will take some time for this to feed through into projects actually getting the go-ahead to go to tender. With the lead times involved, it will be the early part of next year before we see the difference it is making to the speed at which projects are delivered.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On page 2 of those guidelines, it is stated that it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer of a Department to ensure that the guidelines are adopted. As the Minister has said, we may not see the changes until next year. With regard to the procedure for delivering capital projects, what flexibilities do Departments have under the new infrastructure guidelines? For instance, can the Minister for housing streamline the four-stage approval process in housing? In housing, layers of dysfunctional bureaucracy are imposed by Government. That has led to less than half of the target number of houses in Mayo being built last year. In practical terms, what are the implications of the new infrastructure guidelines? I am trying to get at how their effectiveness is to be measured. What criteria has the Minister set to let him know whether these guidelines have been a success or whether they need to be changed?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I will look at three factors. The first is whether the projects individual Government Departments decide to go ahead with are still within budget, that is, still in line with the original expectations set for the project. Second, I will consider whether the guidelines have led to an increase in the speed at which decisions are made and projects brought to tender. From my engagement with my officials and with other Departments when we were making these changes, I understand that the improvement in speed that could be gained may only be a matter of several months. However, that is still worth getting if it gets somebody into a home more quickly, a wastewater treatment plant up and running more quickly or a flood relief scheme in place in time and working more quickly. The final factor I will be looking at may go beyond the change in the infrastructure guidelines. I will be considering whether there is an improvement in the number of companies tendering for projects, particularly smaller projects outside of our cities. They are the three things I will be looking at.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Do local authorities have to continue to put forward business cases as to why they need to build, for example, social and affordable housing? The infrastructure guidelines state, "Where programmes of investment are composed of a high number of similar" schemes, as in the case of housing, a strategic assessment can be done all at once. Can local authorities such as Mayo County Council do a single preliminary assessment or business case for all the projects being brought forward in a single year? If so, when will we see that? Is that a difference the guidelines will make?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My understanding is that, if housing projects are very closely related, there is an opportunity to bring forward a single application to the Department of housing. I will have to check that for the Deputy. I will do that. I believe the Department of housing will be eager to avoid cases in which two or three different housing projects offering different forms of housing come under the one application. If they are genuinely three different projects, it would not really be appropriate to group them under a single application. I will check that for the Deputy but I understand that, if projects are related to each other or are of a certain scale, it is possible to bring forward a single application.

I will come back to the Deputy on that.