Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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259. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount of capital funding allocated to IDA Ireland for its Regional Property Programme in 2023 and 2024, in tabular form.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6596/24]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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For 2024, I secured an increase of €5m in Exchequer Funding on the 2023 level of €60m in capital spending for the IDA in respect of the agency’s property programme. In this regard, the IDA Regional Property Programme is designed to ensure the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations as required by current and prospective clients of the IDA itself as well as Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs.

The total capital allocation for the IDA Regional Property Programme in 2023 included capital carryover as well as an allocation from the agency’s own resource income (ORI) generated from property sales that year, with ORI adding an additional €19.4m to the Programme in 2023. For this year, some €46m in property sales is projected, subject, of course, to client demand, which will augment the Exchequer allocation (€65m) and Capital Carryover (€10m).

A robust property and infrastructure ecosystem can be the key differentiator in winning FDI projects. In a challenging, competitive and uncertain global environment, IDA’s regional property programme ensures the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations as required by current and prospective clients. Under its current strategy, ‘Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth 2021–2024’, IDA is progressing delivery of 19 Advanced Building Solutions (ABS) in regional locations together with working with Local Authorities on advance planning permissions for additional building solutions.

Eight of these 19 buildings are complete, in Monaghan, Sligo, Dundalk, Carlow, Waterford and Athlone, as well as 2 in Limerick. Further buildings are expected to be on site in 2024 in Sligo, Galway, Cavan and Athlone. The buildings for Mullingar and Letterkenny are currently at procurement stage and the proposed ABS for Drogheda is currently in the planning system. The remaining properties for Tralee, Castlebar, Oranmore and Longford are at Site Selection stage.

I can assure the Deputy that the IDA is using its best endeavours to deliver all buildings in a timely manner. Against the backdrop of the difficulties experienced in the construction sector globally and despite the impact of Covid and construction price inflation on both works and budgets, IDA has maintained momentum on the delivery of its Regional Property Programme. IDA Ireland also maintains a focus on land banks and strategic sites to future proof the ability of the property portfolio in regional locations to support the project pipeline.

The delivery of the Regional Property Programme is dependent on and influenced by a wide range of external stakeholders, public processes and commensurate timelines. By their very nature capital-intensive property investment projects can run over multiple years. Therefore, many factors can impact on delivery timelines and budgetary drawdown for same. This can include delays with respect to planning and procurement processes along with challenges in finding appropriate land banks for development within the calendar year.

IDA Ireland Regional Property Programme Capital Allocations for 2023 and 2024, which is augmented by Agency property "ORI" contribution, are set out in the table below: