Seanad debates

Monday, 22 March 2021

National Development Plan: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators for their contributions to the debate. It is really tough when one has only one or two minutes to cover such an important issue.Anyway, it is clear to me from the contributions made that there is broad support in this House for the ongoing work in respect of the review of the NDP. The importance of public capital investment is recognised by Members. An ambitious public capital investment programme will be at the heart of the recovery of the economy. We are fortunate to be in a position where we can access funding. We now have a record level of public investment with an envelope this year of €10.8 billion, representing more than 5% of GNI* and we compare well in European terms. This is in stark contrast to what had to be done a decade ago when public capital investment was cut because funding was simply not available.

At the end of this process we will reach what will be a much reformed but exciting and ambitious new national development plan. There has been fantastic engagement by the public and by all stakeholders as part of the public consultation process. We received in excess of 560 submissions, which is many multiples of the number we had during the previous review of the plan. That is a measure of the appetite that exists to get this right. There is recognition of how central this will be to the development of our country over the next decade and beyond.

It is not only about economic recovery; it is about social recovery as well. This point has been well made by several colleagues. The country will have to undergo a journey when we come through the Covid-19 pandemic. We have a renewed appreciation of many of the facilities that are in our communities and, in some cases, the lack of facilities elsewhere has been underlined during the pandemic. I am determined to ensure that many of the facilities touched on by colleagues today form part of the new NDP that will be unveiled in the coming months.

Reform will be at the heart of this process because it needs to be. We need to do some things better. That is why I am determined that we improve the governance and oversight of the delivery of major projects. We need to learn from the mistakes that have been made in the past. We will have a new major projects advisory group. External members will be appointed to the Project Ireland 2040 delivery board. The positions on both of these bodies will be filled following an open competitive process that will be advertised by the Public Appointments Service shortly. That is the right way to do this.

In the coming months we will finalise what will essentially be a new NDP for the coming decade to 2030. We will give line Departments the certainty of a rolling capital ceiling for the next five years. We will have the overall envelope for public capital investment to 2030 to allow us to develop the country in a planned, targeted and co-ordinated way. We need to get the most out of what is a record level of public investment.

I wish to give colleagues an assurance of our absolute commitment to the national broadband plan. The Government is engaging with National Broadband Ireland with a view to trying to bring that forward in any way that it can be done to examine the potential for acceleration.

Climate will be at the heart of the new NDP because it needs to be. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications will bring forward a new climate Bill shortly. It will go to Government tomorrow with amendments. This will have to be a key driver in the new NDP and we all have to recognise that.

Capital is not only about the hard infrastructure that we often think about. A new and modern Ireland is emerging. That is why we set up the new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. That will be an important part of the new NDP, as will the digitalisation agenda. An extraordinary volume of work is going on across government to drive innovation in this area. We need to consider what role the NDP can play in driving the new economy and the upskilling that will be required.

We will take account of the impact of Covid-19 in respect of the changes it has brought about in society. Project Ireland 2040, even as currently structured, provides for three quarters of the growth to be outside of Dublin, with the main centres for growth being Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.The shared island unit and the priority that we are affording to investment in the Border counties in the NDP and also in PEACE + will be very much at the core of what we are proposing.

Finally, we should acknowledge that there are bottlenecks in the system. Money is not always the constraint in delivering public capital projects and we are determined to reform the way in which we deliver them. That is why there will be a new planning and environmental court and why we will examine the scope and the grounds on which judicial reviews can be taken because sometimes they are used simply to stall projects. We need to make sure that projects that are in the national interest can continue to be developed as part of the NDP. I stress that the role of line Departments is absolutely central here in that they will determine the core projects they wish to prioritise as part of the review of the NDP. The role of my Department is to pull it together, to co-ordinate and lead the review and to sign off on the final document.

I thank colleagues for their contributions. The debate was short but I am happy to come back to the House again to engage further on this as we move towards the finalisation of the new NDP later this summer. I thank everyone for their contributions. I listened carefully to the debate and heard some really good contributions.

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