Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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107. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which his Department continues to evaluate the infrastructural requirements throughout all regions in the country with a view to identifying the means whereby economic investment and development may be more evenly encouraged throughout the regions thereby alleviating some of the social and economic pressures on areas previously the subject of prolonged development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47838/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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My Department commenced a review of the public capital programme in April of this year in parallel with the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. The purpose of the review is to assess all areas of public capital investment and to refresh the existing investment strategy and multi-annual envelopes to ensure that they are in line with emerging Government priorities and that our limited resources are focussed on the areas that can best support continued, sustainable and equitable growth.

As with the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, all Departments with capital budgets were asked to make submissions to my Department in order to feed into the review process. Specifically, they were asked to outline their capital investment plans for the five year period ahead. My Department also consulted external stakeholders such as the ESRI, the CIF and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, for their views on what the State's main infrastructure priorities for the period ahead should be.

While the regional spread of investment is a consideration in setting the Government's investment strategy, the priority is to ensure that infrastructure funded through the public capital programme delivers the highest economic and social return for the State as a whole. The capital programmes in the roads, schools, health and housing sectors make up a significant portion of the overall capital budget, and they will have a beneficial impact for communities throughout the State.

Government has made its decision on the capital allocations for the next three years and these were set out in the recent Budget. The report of the capital review is being finalised and I intend to publish it in the coming weeks. The report will include the three year ceilings announced on Budget Day along with new ceilings for the period 2018 to 2020.