Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

266. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the projects that have been removed from the priority list under the national development plan. [52691/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The National Development Plan 2021-30 (NDP) published last year provides a detailed and positive vision for Ireland until the end of the decade, and sees total public investment of €165 billion over that period. It is important to note that the NDP is fundamentally a high-level financial and budgetary plan, which sets out the framework and broad direction for investment priorities. It includes Exchequer allocations for Departments for the period 2021-2025 to support the delivery of the ten National Strategic Outcomes identified in the National Planning Framework (NPF). In Budget 2023 last month, I announced an additional €800 million which will be made available under the NDP for core capital spending to help in delivering the largest, greenest and most ambitious infrastructure plan in the history of the State. With capital underspends from this year, the amount available next year will be well over €12 billion. This represents a very substantial commitment of resources. The Government remains determined to effectively delivering the NDP projects and ensure that they are timely and crucially, that they provide value for money.

The NDP is not a comprehensive list of all the public investment projects that will take place over its lifetime. However, where sufficient planning and evaluation has already taken place the NDP contains expenditure commitments for a range of strategic investment priorities which have been determined by the relevant Departments as central to the delivery of the NPF vision. All of these commitments require evaluation along with the development of business cases in line with the requirements of the Public Spending Code before they are formally approved for implementation.

It should be noted that my Department, in carrying out its role in terms of oversight of the NDP, does not consider the merits of individual projects or sectoral policy strategies as this is primarily a matter for individual Departments and Agencies.

Individual projects are generally selected by Departments or Agencies based on a detailed process which begins with setting their own sectoral strategy and goals, and then subsequently identifying specific needs or challenges to be addressed, whether that be through regulation, taxation, education or potentially expenditure on an investment project. Appropriate options are then assessed in line with the Public Spending Code.