Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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4. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding a departmental review into the way in which the OPW manages projects to ensure value for money for the taxpayer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59380/25]

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question No. 4 is being taken by Deputy Neville.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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My question is to ask the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the position regarding a departmental review into the way in which the OPW manages projects to ensure value for money for the taxpayer and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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Securing value for money is a central priority for both this Government as well as the Office of Public Works, OPW. It is at the heart of all decision-making at every stage of a policy, project or programme's lifecycle, as it should be.

Securing value for money is both a priority as well as our duty. It is at the forefront of decision-making on all projects in the OPW, at all stages. The OPW is obliged to adhere to the robust guidance in place to treat public funds with due care and always ensure we pursue optimal value for money. I assure the Deputy that we take our responsibility and obligations very seriously.

The OPW takes a structured and thorough approach to delivering value for money across both its capital and current expenditure programmes, with the capital expenditure programme grounded in the principles and requirements of the infrastructure guidelines and adherence with the capital works management framework.

The capital works management framework aims to deliver cost certainty, better value for money and more efficient project delivery. This is achieved through standardised contracts, guidance notes and a structured approach to project management. The OPW follows this policy instrument to deliver compliant tender processes and construction projects, ensuring that projects achieve value for money, are delivered in an efficient manner, and meet the needs of Government and our clients across the system.

In addition, new guidance on capital works projects with an estimated value of less than €500,000 was fully implemented earlier this year. This guidance covers the approval and oversight for smaller capital works projects and will further strengthen project oversight, regardless of project size. All the recommendations of the internal audit report in March have now been implemented and are assisting in embedding additional value for money consideration and evidence across OPW projects.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I raise this in the context of the OPW being an organisation that has its hands on many properties around the country and manages a huge portfolio of different properties. One that is closest to my heart is Castletown House, which has been a key amenity in the Leixlip-Celbridge area for a number of years, and has been a key focal point for the island. It had well over 1 million visitors in 2022. We do not have access in the same way and decisions were made at the time where it might have asked whether value for money was given in 2022. It was decided by the Minister at the time that we should not go ahead with the purchase of the land but, ultimately, we have to see where that lands in future. Costs have been incurred in that way since.

Taking that, and the bike shed located at the back of Leinster House, we think about the OPW and the cost overruns we have had in individual areas. I am a member of the public accounts committee, which the OPW will attend in a few weeks. I want to see what the answer is ahead of that because I am sure issues that came up in the past will come up again, no more than they do for any organisation.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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As the Deputy is aware, the OPW is a significant and large organisation with a wide-ranging remit. It is currently processing 100 flood scheme projects and maintains 11,500 km of channel and 800 km of earth embankments. It maintains over 2,000 properties, including offices, Garda stations, parks, gardens, heritage buildings, accommodation for over 50,000 civil servants, which is up by 15,000 over the last ten years, and over 500 office buildings nationwide. It deals with 38,000 client requests through the OPW help desk and with 15 million visitors a year, which is great for our touristed areas.

I assure the Deputy I will not be found wanting as the head of my Department. Since I came to the Department, I inherited the problem everyone mentions in relation to the bike shelter, but I assure the Deputy that rules and regulations have been brought in. With the Department and I working together, along with the chairman of the OPW, I am quite satisfied that what happened in the past will not happen in the future.

The Deputy raised a question on Castletown.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and the way he spoke regarding his work in the Department since he came in. I know the questions and issues I raised were well before the time of his role with the OPW. It was in that context I raised this. One of the key issues that Fine Gael brought forward and raised ahead of the previous election was the view that we needed to look at the OPW to ensure that expenditure was spent, to my key point, in a way that ensured there was value for money for the taxpayer. All across what we do as a State, and why we stand up here, is ensuring the public gets value for money. We know the difficulties we have. The Minister for infrastructure and public infrastructure is here. The biggest single difficulty facing this country is delivery of infrastructure, notwithstanding how we go towards building housing. We need to get value for money across all areas. I am delighted to be able to raise that today in the context of the OPW.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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As the Deputy mentioned, I work closely with the Minister, Deputy Chambers. As I said, we brought in all these new rules and regulations. I am quite satisfied that as we go forward with the projects the OPW carries out, we will do them within budget and on time. We have a huge portfolio and an awful lot of areas. In some cases, we have to work with contracts. When I say that we "work with contracts", I mean that we could go into a site where we were to do work on a roof but discover halfway through there is more work to be done with that roof. Do we then stop the contract or the people doing the work? No, we have to continue on. I will continue to do that in the best interests of the public in terms of value for money.

I am working right across the board with all Departments, mostly with my own, to deliver value for money. That is the echo coming across from everybody in government. We have learned from the past but we have to move on. We cannot stop the progress of delivering for the people of Ireland. We talk here all day about infrastructure projects not getting going, but we cannot keep going back to the past. We have to learn from the past, which we have done, but we have to move forward and move forward together as a Government.