Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In Budget 2024, additional capital of €900 million was allocated for 2024. This will bring total capital investment in 2024 to €12.6 billion. Additional capital expenditure of €250 million is also being made available for 2024 from windfall exchequer receipts, to be allocated to critical infrastructure projects that are at an advanced stage as well as to the existing Climate Action Fund. A further €2 billion from windfall exchequer receipts is being made available across 2025 (€750 million) and 2026 (€1.25 billion). Recognising the capacity constraints in the economy, it is intended that the additional funding will be targeted at projects that are ready for development.

Delivery challenges persist, particularly the continued impact of inflation on projects, labour supply, planning issues and supply chains. Record levels of capital carryover have been seen over the past number of years with almost €820 million carried forward from 2021 into 2022 and almost €690 million carried forward from 2022 into 2023. Capital underspending persists into 2023. Cumulative net capital expenditure to end-October was €7,047 million, while expenditure was €666 million behind profile, in y-on-y terms, net capital issues are €1,619 million (29.8%) ahead of the end-October 2022 position of €5,429 million. This indicates that the nominal amounts provided for in the NDP in 2021 remain sufficient to allow for the delivery of all projects that can proceed even with the inflation seen in the past two years.

In March 2023, I committed to an independent mid-term evaluation of investment priorities and capacity of the NDP, focusing on the capacity to deliver current Government priorities, to utilise sectoral capital allocations and to estimate the impact of the NDP on key economic indicators. It is anticipated that the report will be published during Q4 this year.

On foot of the report, my Department will communicate with relevant Departments to commence the process of agreeing sectoral NDP allocations out to 2028, with a view to the publication of the revised NDP sectoral allocations during 2024.