Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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60. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide details on the package of actions to enhance delivery of vital public projects that will allow for projects below the €200 million limit to proceed more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process compared to those of greater scale and complexity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22100/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Minister for Public Expenditure; National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, my Department is responsible for the Public Spending Code (PSC), which sets the value for money requirements and guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects.

In March this year, I informed Government of a package of significant actions aimed at enhancing project delivery for the NDP. This package represents a fresh approach to securing delivery as part of the Department's enhanced remit around the NDP.

The actions include significant changes to reduce the administrative burden for Departments and public bodies developing capital projects.

Some specific changes designed to streamline the project lifecycle and approval process include:

• The general threshold for major projects increasing from €100m to €200m, allowing for projects below this limit to progress more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process.
• The reduction of the number of approval stages prior to implementation from 5 to 3, reducing the administrative burden on Government departments charged with developing and delivering projects.
• The removal of the requirement for a project to prepare a separate Strategic Assessment Report (SAR) at the start of the process. Instead, all the requirements previously required as part of a SAR must now be completed, and incorporated, as part of the Preliminary Business Case (PBC) at the first approval stage.