Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome to the House. This is probably one of the most important yet technical pieces of legislation that is generally rubber-stamped but is hugely important nonetheless. All facets and aspects of the State are covered under the 45 headings or Votes as laid out, ending with one of the newer Departments, namely, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is doing a great job in ensuring that Department is delivering for the third level sector. We could go through each and every one of them and talk about the individual Votes. Obviously, I will not do that. The purpose of this Bill is to ensure the State and its agencies are run effectively from 1 January 2023.

I wish to talk about the actual process of drawing down capital expenditure to get approval for projects. I understand the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is carrying out a review of the public spending code as it relates to certain projects. I raised this issue with the Secretary General of the Department of Health at a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Health.

I understand why the three-stage process, with different gates, was put in place. Obviously, the three-stage process for large projects to get Cabinet approval is necessary in terms of proper scrutiny of expenditure. Nonetheless, it is an onerous process that creates delays on certain projects. We see projects effectively stalled. A major project now takes months from when we decide to proceed with it to the start of its actual delivery. It can take five, seven, eight or ten years to get that project over the line in terms of cutting a ribbon and doing all that. People get cynical about this. They hear about these projects so often but the process is so elongated and delayed. There are probably reasons for that.

As well as monitoring public spending and assuring there is efficient use of public funds, I am sure this process is also a mechanism to delay projects to ensure all projects in a Department do not come together. I can understand that too. There is a need to streamline the processes, however. Some projects are absolutely vital, irrespective of the planning. There will be debates in the new year on the streamlining of planning. That can take on a life of its own. The public procurement side of things is hugely onerous. I put this to the Secretary General of the Department of Health at the health committee. If the Government and the Cabinet decide there is a project that is absolutely vital for the functioning of the State, how quickly can it be brought through the public spending code? That is the test. There are projects that need to be fast-tracked. They have been discussed. If they have to go through the different gates and approval stages, the process can be drawn out, possibly for years even before we go through planning, approvals and contracts and all that goes with that. That is all I want to say about capital expenditure.

I support the Bill. It is interesting reading for people to go through the expenditure on all the different areas that cover all functions of the State and delivery to the public by the State in terms of services, projects and grants, etc. As I said, it is a very important Bill, albeit a technical one that generally does not get much scrutiny.