Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the degree to which his Department can facilitate capital expenditure under various headings with particular reference to addressing infrastructural deficits, thus generating greater employment and providing a basis for future economic development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11017/17]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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155. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which his Department has received communication from other Departments and bodies or agencies under their aegis seeking expenditure on such issues as the upgrade of motorways, new roadworks, investment in water and other items of infrastructural importance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11018/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 154 and 155 together.

The Capital Plan 'Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021' set out a €42 billion framework to address our priority infrastructure needs up to 2021. The Programme for a Partnership Government (PfPG) makes clear that the existing Capital Plan is the starting point for increased investment in priority areas into the future.  The PfPG committed to seeking Oireachtas approval for an additional €4 billion in Exchequer capital investment over the period of the Plan, to be allocated to such areas as transport, broadband, health, education and flood defences, on the basis of the outcome of the mid-term review of the Capital Plan to be undertaken in early 2017.

This commitment to increased capital expenditure was subsequently increased to €5.14 billion in the 2016 Summer Economic Statement (SES). 

The Capital Plan is now being reviewed to ensure that capital spending is strictly aligned with national economic and social priorities, consistent with Programme for Partnership Government objectives.  The review of the Plan is being undertaken in two phases:

Phase 1 of the review is a focused examination of priorities aimed primarily at advising Government, in the context of Budget 2018, on how the additional capital funding, committed by Government, should be allocated over the remainder of the plan to 2021.  This will examine priority areas for investment, consistent with the objectives of the existing Capital Plan and the specific investment priorities contained in the Programme for Government.

The second phase of the review, which will begin before the end of 2017, will then assess and report on the framework required to underpin longer term (10-20 years) analysis of Ireland's infrastructure planning needs.  This long-term capital planning framework is intended to comprise a fundamental review of public capital infrastructural requirements into the future.  In this context, the Deputy may be aware that the Taoiseach, in his recent address to the Institute of European Affairs 'Ireland at the heart of a changing European Union' reaffirmed that the new National Planning Framework for spatial planning due to be finalised later this year will be complemented with a long-term (i.e. 10 year) capital plan. 

My Department has written to all Departments initiating the review process and has sought submissions, including proposals for any of the additional capital funding available, by the end of February 2017.  A public consultation will also be undertaken to inform the Review.