Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 264: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide a broad description of each capital project considered by his Department over the past five years; when each project was first considered; when each project will be procured; when each will be completed; if each project will be part-financed by user charges; the number of public servants currently employed in the delivery of each project; the names of the consultants and advisers used to date in respect of each project; the titles of the consultancy reports carried out or in progress; the expenditure to date on each project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12912/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Capital expenditure in my Department has been incurred on infrastructure comprising new buildings, upgrading and refurbishment and communications and information technology.

Details of all infrastructure projects costing in excess of €1 million over the past five years are listed in the following schedule. None of the projects was financed in any way by user charges. Consultants with appropriate expertise — architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, etc. — are engaged as necessary to provide technical services in connection with building and engineering projects. There are 27 civil and military personnel employed in delivering those projects.

Apart from the management information framework — see below — capital expenditure on communications and information technology over the past five years mainly comprised the purchase of computer equipment and upgrading of IT infrastructure and systems for the Department and the Defence Forces. Total expenditure each year was as follows.

Regarding the management information framework, or MIF, Deloitte & Touche consultants were commissioned in March 2001, following a competitive tendering process, to report on the existing financial and other IT systems in the Department and the Defence Forces and to advise on future requirements. Their report, entitled Assistance in Connection with the Proposed Introduction of a New Financial Management System, was furnished in December 2001. Following a further tender competition, the same consultants were employed to advise on the preparation of a specification for new systems and on the selection of a suitable vendor. Tenders for the provision of the new systems were invited in August 2003, and a contract for the systems was placed with Oracle EMEA in April 2004. The project is expected to be completed in 2006. The provision of the new systems will not involve user charges. Capital expenditure to date on the project, including staff payroll costs, is €4.6 million. Total expenditure on the project is estimated at €8.5 million.

There are at present two civil servants and three military personnel involved full-time on the MIF project, with three specially recruited contract personnel also involved. Other civil and military personnel are involved in the project as required.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 265: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will provide a broad description of each capital project considered by his Department over the past five years; when each project was first considered; when each project will be procured; when each will be completed; if each project will be part-financed by user charges; the number of public servants currently employed in the delivery of each project; the names of the consultants and advisers used to date in respect of each project; the titles of the consultancy reports carried out or in progress; the expenditure to date on each project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12543/05]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 266: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his estimate of the capital requirement of his Department and its agencies over the next ten years; the projects in excess of €20 million that may be procured during this period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12544/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 265 and 266 together.

Capital projects funded by my Department are, in the main, initiated by local authorities, save for a limited number of capital projects pertaining to the heritage programme.

Generally, capital projects are funded by means of a grant for full costs or partly grant-funded, with the remaining costs funded from the sponsoring bodies' own resources. Reflecting the "polluter pays" principle, it is public policy fully to recover the cost of providing waste management services to end users by means of charges levied on those users. In the case of services provided by the private sector directly, that is already the case. In the case of services and infrastructure provided directly by local authorities or by means of a public private partnership or outsourcing, significant progress is now being made towards full cost recovery on the basis of use-related charges. Similarly, the non-domestic element of water services infrastructure is financed by user charges.

Local authorities at present have more than 5,000 individual capital projects at various stages of development. My Department does not have detailed information regarding many of those projects, and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work. However, indicative information on housing, water services, non-national roads, waste, heritage and urban regeneration projects to be commenced over the period 2000 to 2006 has been set out in the national development plan. The 2005 public capital programme contains further details regarding planned capital expenditure on some 70 major housing, water services and non-national roads projects, each costing in excess of €20 million. In addition, as they are announced, details of the various multi-annual programmes funded by my Department are made available in the Oireachtas Library.

While my Department oversees and provides the policy framework for its capital programmes, staffing allocated to the delivery of individual projects is a matter for the implementing bodies concerned, as is the commissioning of related reports and consultancies, etc.

From 2004, the capital envelope agreement between my Department and the Department of Finance sets out aggregate capital provisions for our programmes over rolling five-year periods, with the most recent envelope covering the period 2005 to 2009 valued at some €9 billion. Capital provisions beyond that period will be progressively determined.