Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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162. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the five most recent significant capital projects in the major functional responsibilities of his Department which require his sanction; the time which elapsed between the initial submission of the proposal for consideration until the construction commenced; the significant elements making up this period; the time spent in assessment prior to approval in the planning process; the time spent in assessment prior to approval in the procurement process of contractors; and the way this duration compared with the targeted time to delivery set out at the outset of the process. [14775/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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While a discrete element of capital expenditure under my Department’s Vote does involve investment in property mainly by the IDA Ireland as part of its efforts to attract FDI, the vast majority of our capital expenditure is targeted at supporting the enterprise promotion and job creation programmes of the Department and our Enterprise Agencies. These programmes include employment grants, competitive funds, regional enterprise grants, training grants, access to credit initiatives etc. and in the main are delivered by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices.

The core capital programmes delivered by our Enterprise Agencies together with the myriad of new Brexit/Covid measures rolled out by them over the last 12 months have been key to sustaining business and employment in the ongoing battle to survive the impact of the pandemic and to readjust to the new trading environment post Brexit.   

In short, the capital expenditure under my Department’s Vote is by its nature mainly programme rather than project orientated.