Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the Government on Project Ireland 2040, which is joint initiative with the national planning framework and the national development plan. There are a few thoughts I would like to share in advance of the Senators' contributions, and the officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would have regard to those as well. I thank the House for the opportunity to make these opening remarks.

The construct of the national development plan, which is the expenditure element of Project Ireland 2040, comes from the foundations of a recovering economy. That facilitates our current position, where the capital envelope that we have available to us as a Government is of the order of €116 billion over ten years. It is important for those in the House and everybody else to put this in perspective. It is a short period in some ways but a long time in other ways, if we consider the effects that the economic crash had on the country, and it is a phenomenal achievement to be in a position to bring forward an investment package of anything of the order of €116 billion for the people of Ireland. It is the contribution, work and sacrifices of the people of Ireland that have resulted in the economic position we currently enjoy, led by the policies adopted over the past few years, many of which were criticised and opposed in this and the other House. We are where we are and we now have the money to invest in a variety of different projects.

The plan includes €91 billion of direct Exchequer-related funding and a further €25 billion from our semi-State companies, which will be empowered under the national development plan. They have signalled the projects already identified as priority areas across a range of sectors, including ports, airports and other elements.Some €75 billion is new funding. There are many new projects not identified nor referred to previously. As confirmed, investment will be among the highest in the European Union. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, have often referred to the lost decade Ireland endured over the last number of years. This is certainly something we are now playing catch-up with. However, we are lucky to be in a situation where we have the money and investment opportunity to do this.

The plan is based on costed and prudent projections of growth for 2% over the period 2022 to 2027. That is important bearing in mind, and we have said this both here and elsewhere, the shocks that could potentially be out there on the horizon for this economy and, as a result, for the people. The growth rates are based on projections the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance are happy to stand over.

In respect of how the national development plan was developed, and how it came to be where it is today, public consultation was formally started by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in March 2017. That public consultation included engagements at a political level and requests made in many of the Topical Issue matters debates, Commencement matters debates and parliamentary questions and by delegations from local authorities and so on. There was also extensive consultation on the national planning framework. That is the document on which the national development plan is predicated. It is the first time in the history of rolling out either a national development plan or a planning framework that we do not have one in isolation from the other and have both of them together. We now have the plan and the money to deliver on the projects we believe are important.

The different regions across the country are going to feel differently about how the plan is going to impact on them. The projects are going to be different. I want to refer to my own region and I am sure Senators will use the opportunity to reference their own areas as well. I will give an example of a region outside Dublin that often is referenced and how that may-----