Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

32. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there has been any update or review of the national capital tracker to provide greater transparency in terms of projects status, development timelines and associated costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22057/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, I have responsibility for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments. Management and delivery of individual investment projects within the allocations agreed under the NDP is a key responsibility of every Department and Minister.

In 2023, over €12 billion will be made available from the Exchequer for investment in public capital projects, which will provide more schools, homes, hospitals and other pieces of vital infrastructure. This level of expenditure will be pivotal in consolidating the progress already made, and, most importantly, delivering the necessary infrastructure to support our future climate change obligations as well as our social and economic requirements.

The Government is committed to detailing progress on the delivery of the NDP at regular intervals to allow for full transparency of the implementation of Project Ireland 2040. This is achieved through regular updates of the Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and MyProjectIreland interactive map viewer as well as the publication of annual reports and regional reports highlighting Project Ireland 2040 achievements and giving a detailed overview of the public investments that have been made throughout the country.

The capital tracker and interactive map are key tools in overseeing the progress of Project Ireland 2040. Their purpose is to facilitate communication, monitoring and planning of investments and to inform citizens of the variety of projects currently in the planning and construction phase in their local regions and throughout the country.

The latest editions of the Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and interactive map, were published on the gov.ie/2040 website in February. The tracker includes comprehensive details on almost 320 large scale projects and 140 individual programmes, while the interactive map database includes an exhaustive overview of 1,240 individual projects.

Since the launch of the first NDP in 2018, the tracker has been updated regularly and contains project updates detailing for example a brief outline of the project; the Department or Body responsible for delivering the project; the location and region of the project; the type of investment which links it to specific sectors; the alignment of the project with the National Planning Framework’s 10 National Strategic Outcomes; the current status of the project; the construction commencement date of the project; the completion or anticipated completion date of the project; the current stage of the project lifecycle as per the Public Spending Code and finally, there is also information on the project cost range. All of this information can be filtered and sorted by the user into their required data fields.