Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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83. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to outline his vision for a public infrastructure Act as referenced in the programme for Government; how this will improve delivery, value for money and accountability in relation to public infrastructure development; if he will provide details on any models his Department is evaluating which are in place in analogous countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5128/25]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I ask the Minister to elaborate on what his intentions are for the introduction of an infrastructure Act and what that will involve.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the national development plan published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2025, €15 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. An additional €2.25 billion of windfall corporation tax receipts has also been allocated from 2024 to 2026 to provide funding for critical infrastructure projects that are at an advanced stage as well as to the existing climate action fund.

The programme for Government acknowledges delays to project delivery result in higher costs and hamper our ability to provide the necessary infrastructure to service a modern society and economy. It also represents a real risk to our competitiveness and to our attractiveness as a location for foreign direct investment. Achieving value for money in a timely manner while reducing cost and schedule overruns is a vital part of delivering the NDP. Therefore, the programme for Government commits my Department to reviewing the infrastructure guidelines and creating a public investment Act that would require sponsoring agencies to meet timelines on the development of project appraisals and other evaluations so as to reduce delays in decision-making and embed value for money across all capital projects.

My Department is responsible for the infrastructure guidelines, which replaced the public spending code and were published in December 2023, with an effective date of 1 January 2024.

12 o’clock

These set the value-for-money guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects. Management and delivery of investment projects and public services within allocation and the national frameworks are a key responsibility of every Department and Minister. The public spending code, which is a guide to evaluating, planning and managing public investment, provided a set of guidelines and a project lifecycle from conception to completion, which gave Departments and public bodies the tools to appraise project proposals in line with international standards.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I would like a chance to respond but it seems we have run out of time. I did not even expect to get to this particular question, given the time allocated this morning. I wish to make the point, now that there are more Members present, that the reason we got to that question is because many Government TDs are not here to take their own questions. That is quite extraordinary considering much of the political debate in this Chamber in recent weeks has been taken up by Government representatives saying they will not have sufficient speaking time.