Written answers

Wednesday, 11 July 2018

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

National Development Plan

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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194. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the specific projects which will receive the €29 million in extra capital expenditure in 2019 as outlined in Annex 1 of the National Development Plan 2018-2027; the amount each project will receive of this €29 million in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31279/18]

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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195. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the specific projects which will receive the €203 million in capital funding allocated in 2019; the amount each project will receive of the €203 million in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31296/18]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 and 195 together.

My own Department, and the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) therein, have not been allocated extra capital in 2019, when the Department’s allocation will be €5 million and the OGP’s will be €1 million.  The purpose of the capital investment undertaken by my Department and the OGP is to deliver greater effectiveness and efficiency across the Civil and Public Service through reform initiatives set out in ambitious reform plans, such as Our Public Service 2020 and the Public Service ICT Strategy.  This capital expenditure is primarily invested in ICT systems.

The OPW capital allocation for 2019 provides for a baseline allocation of €183 million.  This represents a €28 million increase on the OPW capital allocation for 2018 of €155 million as published in the Revised Estimates 2018.  The OPW capital allocation comprises of two key programmes namely Flood Risk Management and Estate Management portfolio.  The Government is committed to the policy objective of delivering further capital works / flood relief schemes to minimise the impacts of river and coastal flooding on society through the roll-out of the Flood Risk Management Plans.  It is a matter for the OPW to prioritise and implement flood risk management programmes as appropriate.  I am advised that the OPW will advance a number of projects within the Estate Portfolio Management programme including investment in a number of state owned properties, an acquisition and disposals programme, a retrofit programme and increased infrastructure investment at heritage sites.  Again, it is a matter for the OPW to prioritise specific projects and expenditure in this area.

The position in relation to the National Shared Services Office is that the Capital baseline allocation for 2019 is €11 million.  The key programme for which this capital allocation will be utilised is the Financial Management Shared Services Project, the single financial management system to serve Government Departments and public service bodies.

Finally, the Public Appointments Service were allocated €3.5 million for the upgrade / replacement of the ICT systems, in particular, the IT online recruitment platform over the period 2019 -2021.  This was provided following an independent review of their current system in 2017 and the core recommendation was that the current system should be replaced. It is intended that €1 million of this allocation will be spent on ICT systems development in 2019.  The Public Appointments Service has also been allocated €1 million to carry out necessary capital upgrade works to Chapter House in 2019.

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