Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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7. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide an update regarding investment in critical infrastructure in the west of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40153/26]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for public expenditure, I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level. As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets overall expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group. These are laid out at Vote level in the budget day expenditure report published in October, with further detail provided in the Revised Estimates for public services published in December.

Following the allocation of each ministerial expenditure ceiling, it is a matter for Ministers to assign funding as appropriate at programme and subhead level for their Departments and for the agencies and bodies under their remit. They must account for the demands for services in different areas and regions, having regard to demographics and other relevant factors. Within this process, both current and capital expenditure are allocated on a departmental basis.

Balanced regional development is a key priority of this Government and is at the heart of the national planning framework, NPF, which sets out the overall spatial strategy for the next 20 years, along with the national development plan, NDP. Each Minister is responsible for deciding on the priority programmes and projects that will be delivered under his or her remit within the NDP and for setting out the timelines for delivery.

Since Project Ireland 2040 was first launched in 2018, the Government has overseen the delivery of many impactful NDP projects across the West. For example, in transport we have the N17-N18 Gort to Tuam project comprising 54 km of motorway and 3 km of dual carriageway; the N59 Moycullen bypass; the Salmon Weir Bridge in Galway; and the Killaloe Bypass in Clare. Other projects include the upgrade and rehabilitation of the Roscommon sewer network; the development of the Oweninny wind farm; the development of enterprise centres in Boyle and Tulsk in Roscommon and in Belmullet and Swinford in Mayo; as well as heritage and tourism projects in Portumna in Galway and Aghleam in Mayo. There have also been numerous projects delivered in the housing, education, health, and rural development sectors.

The programme for Government set out the clear prioritisation for the NDP review to ensure that investment can be maximised in the coming five years across strategic infrastructure. This includes the key energy, water and transport networks on which all future development relies.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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I want to focus on healthcare in the west because the masterplan for University Hospital Galway, UHG, and the redevelopment of the hospital is a critical project for our region to ensure that we have a modern, resilient, future proofed, model 4 hospital and to ensure that staff and patients get the facilities they deserve. It includes 300 new inpatient beds, a new emergency department, critical care, surgical theatres, a cancer centre, maternity and children services and much more. In recent weeks a design team was appointed for the 300 bed ward block at UHG. It is crucial that all of this is delivered in a timely manner but, unfortunately, people in Galway have little faith in the Government's ability to deliver on critical infrastructure. One just has to look at the ring road saga, which has dragged on for two decades, to understand why. They want assurances that the redevelopment of UHG will be progressed quickly and will not face delays. The Critical Infrastructure Bill has gone through this House. The Minister has indicated that certain projects will be fast tracked under that legislation. Will he give a commitment today that the UHG plans will be designated as critical infrastructure?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. I met with some of the management team for the development board with our by-election candidate, Councillor Cillian Keane, Deputy John Connolly and Senator Ollie Crowe in recent weeks. I fully appreciate the need for improved bed capacity for the west of Ireland and for Galway. It is absolutely required, which is why the Government and the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, have significantly strengthened the capital allocation to the Department of Health to ensure we build much-improved bed capacity for areas like Galway and the west of Ireland. I want to work with the hospital to ensure the design phase, which it is currently in, is progressed quickly. The Government wants to see some of that progress to construction. Similarly with the ring road, we want to see that built. Planning permission is now in place and we need to ensure it is built.

The Critical Infrastructure Bill is in the Seanad. We will stand up a process, following its enactment, on what projects are designated and when. Speaking generally, obviously if a project is in the early phase of design or development, it may not be ready for designation. We want to ensure that across the transport, water, and energy sectors and in certain instances, in health infrastructure, we designate and fast track projects. Part of that will be through the provisions of the Critical Infrastructure Bill and part of it through the wider reforms we are introducing to cut timelines. I share the Deputy's objectives for both of the projects he mentioned.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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This is very important. There are regional inequalities in the area of healthcare, and these are particularly stark when it comes to cancer care. We do not have any PET scanners in public hospitals in the west. In many cases, patients can wait weeks before starting treatment for cancer. It is right across the board. We have seen elective procedures postponed at UHG due to overcrowding, with patients on trolleys and long waits in the accident and emergency department. We need the best possible facilities for people in Galway and right across the west of Ireland. It is what they deserve. A person's post code should not determine the quality of care that he or she receives, but that is the reality at present.

If we are serious about addressing this, the redevelopment of UHG has to be fast-tracked, it has to be made a priority and the necessary investment has to be forthcoming. There are real concerns that the Government has not budgeted sufficiently for the infrastructure either . This cannot be another project that is held up indefinitely. I understand that it is at an early stage, but I still ask the Minister to give a commitment that this is going to be fast-tracked as a critical infrastructure project. It is so important for the west of Ireland.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It absolutely needs to progress quickly. Part of that is to do with ensuring that the HSE is efficient in how it turns around the design proposals. We must also look at how we get it into the planning process and turned around quickly. In what we set out in the infrastructure reforms, part of the improvement to accelerate infrastructure may involve designation for any project. The other elements are about ensuring that we have better performance across the lifecycle of a project from the point at which someone has a concept in order that we save more time before the planning application is made. We must also standardise the overall construction aspect of particular projects in order that they will be built quicker.

I share with the Deputy the objective of improved bed capacity for the west of Ireland and Galway and in the next number of years. I had a very good meeting with the development board on their next steps. I have not set out any designation at this point because the Bill has not yet been enacted. The process will follow when that happens.