Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform launched an update of Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan. It was really an update of the tracker with the interactive maps and profiles of the various projects across the country. I would recommend that everyone look at it. They can click on a town, local authority area or a region. It is very impressive. I acknowledge the work of the Government on Project Ireland 2040 and the national development plan. It is very beneficial for all of us, as national, local or European politicians, to know what is going on in our areas. It is a great tool and I acknowledge that it was yet again updated yesterday and formally launched by the Minister.

This has been a recurring theme here but I am concerned about the rising cost of construction and how that will impact on the national development plan. Issues around procurement are becoming more and more challenging and there are now huge costs involved. The Minister has already flagged that there may be some impact on the national development plan because of these matters. It is important that we have an update on it in the House because Members are interested in this issue. I liked the Minister's statement that he has now established an external assurance process, EAP, which will provide independent scrutiny of major public capital projects that cost in excess of €100 million. That is the sort of scale we are talking about. It is an enormous plan and represents enormous ambition, which is great. I particularly like this EAP scheme the Minister has talked about because €100 million is a lot of money. I would have thought it would apply to projects of a lot less. The nature of this is that it is a multi-billion euro programme and it is a bigger vision to 2040. At an appropriate time when there is a slot available, not necessarily in the next few weeks, it would be very interesting to have statements and an update on these plans.