Seanad debates

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Project Ireland 2040: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Brian Ó DomhnaillBrian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will make some general remarks rather than speaking about specific projects. I could speak about a number of particular projects in the west and the north west, but I will not do so because time is short. Other Senators have referred to the Government's strategic communications unit when speaking about last month's announcement. While that may be linked to the national planning framework, I do not propose to get into it tonight because it is a side issue.

I welcome the framework because it represents the way forward. It is a good initiative that deserves buy-in from Members of the Oireachtas of all political parties and none. When the national spatial strategy was announced in 2002, it was not accompanied by a capital plan. It was probably a mistake that after the spatial strategy was published, it took four years for the capital plan to come into place. Within two or three years of the capital investment being provided in 2006, public investment had reduced to 2.5% of this country's economic output. We are now back at 4% in accordance with the €116 billion that is proposed.

My concern with regard to the Government's announcement of a €116 billion plan is that every Minister and Deputy, particularly on the Government side, is trying to launch it, claim credit for it in some way and say that the money is available for these projects. I am not saying this as a political point because the same thing would happen if Fianna Fáil was in government. We are looking at it the wrong way around. The money announcement is one thing, but announcing money does not deliver the project on the ground and does not deliver value for money in these projects. I will explain what could happen here - I am not suggesting that it will - by reminding the House of what happened in recent decades. I refer, for example, to the national children's hospital project, to the construction of the Dublin Port tunnel or to various bypasses here and there. I have looked at the cost-benefit analyses that were carried out on some of those projects and they are shocking, to say the least. The development of the port tunnel was a disaster. At the moment, the children's hospital project is running over budget and the taxpayer will have to carry the cost burden. It will probably cost twice what it was originally going to cost.

I will explain my fears in this regard. In 2013, the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform introduced new guidelines as part of the public spending code, under which capital projects must be analysed and evaluated in a certain way. I have read the national planning framework online. I got the copy today that Senator Horkan referred to. I am worried that there is no mention in the framework of the public spending code or of the need for value for money in the delivery of these projects. For example, it is proposed to spend €3 billion on the metro north project, which was publicised heavily when the announcement was made in Sligo on Friday, 16 February last. Neither the first nor the second cost-benefit analysis of the project showed that the benefits would outweigh the costs. I understand from media reports that a third cost-benefit analysis is being carried out. The objective of this third analysis must be to provide the results wanted by the Government in order to be able to deliver the project. I think we are going down a road that will not necessarily deliver value for the money the taxpayer is investing in these projects.

I would like draw the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, to a recent International Monetary Fund report on projects across the OECD. I have read some, but not all, of the report, which highlights this country and makes 27 recommendations on public investment in infrastructure in Ireland. The recommendations relate to planning, appraisal, evaluation, the public spending code, how projects are selected and how money is earmarked and spent. Will those recommendations be considered and used before any money is spent under this plan? I do not expect the Minister of State to give me an answer to that question tonight. I would like a detailed response to it in writing, perhaps from the senior Minister. It was a mistake not to give both Houses of the Oireachtas an opportunity to vote on the national planning framework. This was covered in a line of the legislation that was brought through the Houses to amend the Planning and Development Acts. We should have an opportunity not just to debate the framework, but to vote on it. We are going to support it anyway, but we should have an opportunity to vote on it as democrats.

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