Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his Department's capital allocation in each of the years 2019 to 2023; and the areas to which funds will be allocated in each of those years. [25576/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of capital investment undertaken by my Department, including the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), is to deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency across the Civil and Public Service. The nature of many of the reform initiatives set out in ambitious reform plans, such as Our Public Service 2020 and the Public Service ICT Strategy, is that up-front investment is sometimes required to deliver service improvements and greater consolidation and efficiency across the Civil and Public Service in the medium and long term. Therefore, this can involve my Department taking on additional costs, including capital costs, in the short-term.

The Department’s capital allocation for the years 2019 to 2022 is set out below.

Capital allocations for 2023 will be determined during the Budget 2019 process. The multi-annual Exchequer capital allocations agreed in Budget 2018 under the National Development Plan underpin each Department’s capital planning process for a five-year period from 2018 to 2022. These five-year allocations will be reviewed and extended annually on a rolling basis to include a fifth year, as part of the annual Estimates process. This will provide Government with an annual opportunity to review the allocations in light of any implementation issues arising and/or new priorities which may emerge as the National Development Plan is implemented.

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), which is also part of my Department, invests and develops IT infrastructure on behalf of my Department, the Department of Finance, the National Shared Services Office and the OGP. However, its broader role is to leverage ICT to gain efficiencies and to improve the effectiveness of service delivery across the Civil and Public Service.

The OGCIO takes the lead on driving forward the implementation of the Public Service ICT Strategy, working with Departments and agencies across the Public Service. Capital investment in the period will be allocated to projects that support the five strategic themes of the strategy which are; Build to Share, Digital First, Data as an Enabler, Improve Governance, and Increase Capability. For instance, under the Build to Share pillar of the Strategy, the OGCIO continues to enhance the Government Network that has been in existence for many years. As a result of this investment, the Network will operate at higher speeds, providing high capacity services to the wider Public Service. The enhanced network will support agencies in the roll-out of new applications, new ways of working and engaging with the citizen.

The OGP continues to invest in its IT systems to deliver on its mandate to drive procurement savings to the State. For example, the OGP is continuing to invest in the eTenders platform to support national and EU procurement requirements. A CRM / Workflow Management System is also being implemented to support OGP’s Customer Service function and sourcing activities of the OGP and its sector partners.