Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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5. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress to date under national strategic outcome 10 of the National Development Plan 2021-2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60155/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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33. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress to date under national strategic outcome 4 of the National Development Plan 2021-2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60154/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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What is the progress to date under national strategic outcomes 10 and 4 of the NDP? I think I get some additional time for my supplementaries.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 33 together.

As Minister, I am responsible for setting overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring the relative expenditure and delivery at departmental level. In the national development plan review 2021, the Government originally committed €165 billion in capital investment for the period from 2021 to 2030, and subsequently agreed to additional funding of €2.25 billion in March 2024 for the period from 2024 to 2026. The revised national development plan, published in July, sets out €275.4 billion in public capital investment to 2035, which is the largest and most significant capital injection in our economy in the history of the State. Following the agreement in July of this year of the national development plan review, gross capital ceilings for all sectors have been set out to 2030.

While the Government has prioritised investment towards the critical growth-enabling sectors of housing, energy, water and transport, all Departments are now tasked with developing sectoral plans for the upcoming five years out to 2030. These plans will detail priority projects to be progressed, and Departments must ensure these are affordable within the overall capital expenditure ceilings, as agreed by the Government. These plans will be published in the coming weeks.

The Deputy referenced strategic outcomes 10 and 4. Strategic outcome 10 refers to access to quality childcare, education and health services. The Government has allocated €795 million to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and €9.25 billion to the Department of Health for the 2026 to 2030 period. A range of projects have already been delivered under this since 2021, including, for example, a €6.9 billion investment in capital infrastructure for primary and post-primary schools resulting in 1,200 projects completed, many of which are in the Deputy's constituency; the establishment of 18 Sláintecare healthy communities in disadvantaged areas under the healthy Ireland framework; the Sláintecare healthy homes scheme, from which 4,500 people benefit; and the ongoing work in communities from a public health perspective.

National strategic outcome 4 relates to sustainable mobility and a commitment to a more environmentally sustainable public transport system. Given the nature of this strategic priority, many projects take a number of years to fully deliver. Transport has been highlighted and focused on as a critical growth-enabling area in the national development plan review. A total of €22.3 billion was allocated to the Department of Transport for the 2026 to 2030 period. A further €2 billion was allocated to support low-carbon transportation projects, including projects such as MetroLink, under the national development plan review. Considerable progress has been made on a range of projects across the country under this objective since the 2021 review, including, for example, planning permissions for nine bus corridors under BusConnects Dublin; final network details for BusConnects Cork; planning permission for BusConnects Galway; planning implementation for BusConnects Limerick; and work is now ongoing on BusConnects Waterford. Over €320 million has been invested in walking and cycling projects through the active travel infrastructure programme.

Full lists of projects and programmes for each of the ten strategic outcomes are regularly published by my Department. The capital investment tracker provides a composite update on all major investments where there is an estimated project cost of over €20 million. There is a detailed map of each of the projects relating to each of the specific and strategic outcomes.

It is important to balance the conversation. We need to accelerate delivery, and we are fronting up on doing an extensive amount more on capital investment in our economy, but a huge amount has been delivered. We are seeing that in our school system in terms of social infrastructure. We are also seeing it with a lot of the public transport projects and continued investment in the road network, as well as the delivering of outcomes for bed capacity in our health system. We need to balance the conversation. A lot of infrastructure is being delivered but we want to do more and do it quicker.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his update. I agree with him that a lot of delivery has taken place.

I want to speak specifically about childcare, early learning and school-age care. I believe €795 million has been ring-fenced until 2030 for capital funding for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. Over the last two years, €45 million was allocated to expand childcare capacity, which is positive. I think we all recognise that is not enough. In this year's budget, €36 million was set aside for 2026 to develop a new programme of acquisition and fit-out of State-led early years and school-age care settings to provide 700 additional places. We have the building blocks extension scheme, which will open in 2026 for extensions and modifications to deliver approximately 1,500 places. That is 2,200 places and it is still not where we need to be.

We have over 13,000 children under three on waiting lists, with infant places especially scarce due to a 35% drop in baby rooms over the term of the last Government. According to Dublin Chamber, 90% of firms claim a lack of affordable childcare is damaging recruitment and retention. Parents, primarily women, are struggling to return to work, as we know from talking to our constituents in Dublin West. This is an economic issue and an equality issue. It is biting and it is hurting families now. Childcare fees are still a second mortgage for families, particularly those whose fees have increased substantially because their crèches pulled out of core funding. We need a big vision of childcare but we also need big delivery. The Department of children is working on an action plan. Capital funding and infrastructure are absolutely key to that. Will the money be there to fund the delivery at the scale we need?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. We both share the same constituency with a lot of young families. I share her objective of ensuring we develop more places and more opportunities to have childcare facilities and affordable childcare across our community and indeed in communities across the country. The Minister, Deputy Foley, is working with her allocation of €795 million over the next five years. Obviously, that includes children, equality and disability. She is working on a on a multiyear sectoral plan to set out specific steps and overall allocations in respect of some of the childcare schemes the Deputy referenced. As part of the budget, we agreed to continue. Obviously, the increased demand for childcare across our economy has had to be funded in the context of budget 2026. An additional 35,000 places under the national childcare scheme are being supported in that context.

We want to complement many of the smaller childcare providers that have developed their own capacity in communities across the country. Obviously, the State will be doing more and the sectoral investment plan for childcare will put the detail on that and provide the specific allocations. We have a wider vision on childcare in the programme for Government whereby we want to make progress across successive budgets when it comes to the affordability initiatives but also the capital allocations, which will be set out in the coming weeks.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I accept that the Minister and the Department are working on the action plan for childcare. I am trying to ensure that the big thinking that is required to deliver childcare at the scale that we need is reflected in the NDP and will be ready to be activated to deliver the spaces that we desperately need. We need systemic change and a new model of childcare. I am looking for reassurance that there will be funding behind it to deliver those plans based on the ambitions that we have and that parents and families need at this point.

In relation to transport, we know DART+ West has cleared the legal challenges. I heard the Minister's update that the Department of Transport is working on funding envelopes for his Department. He said that those envelopes will become clear in the coming weeks. Does that mean that we will hear in the coming weeks that we will get the green light for funding for DART+ West and it can then commence work?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy and I are in agreement in lots of areas. DART+ West is a project that is not caught in the paralysis, the delays and bureaucracy. It is one that we can try to commence quickly. Where we have opportunities on public transport, we should be using the increased capital allocation from a transport perspective to get projects moving. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is working on the sectoral investment plan for the Department of Transport, working with TII and the National Transport Authority. DART+ West is a really good example of a project we need to advance over the coming years. A critical part of the transport sector investment plan will be setting out the timeline for that and putting the detail around that so we give clear certainty to the market about our intent. Trying to attract more international contractors will be critical so we have a broader transformation of public transport investment over the coming years. That will be a priority as part of the capital plan and it is also a priority in the existing national development plan.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is looking for a date.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I know. Quickly.