Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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244. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress to date in respect of the delivery of various projects set out in Project Ireland 2040; the extent to which the projects are being delivered on time and within budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18073/24]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the National Development Plan (NDP) published in 2021. As set out in the Summer Economic Statement (SES) 2023, an additional €2.25 billion of capital funding was made available to be allocated in the 2024 to 2026 period. This funding will facilitate the progression of important projects and enable more rapid development of key Programme for Government commitments, such as the delivery of actions to fulfil our climate action plan commitments, the provision of more housing and enhanced education facilities.

Following the conclusion of more than 30 bilateral meetings which took place from January to March with my Ministerial colleagues, the distribution of the additional €2.25 billion across Departments was agreed by Government in March 2024. This builds on the existing funding already available under the NDP out to 2026 and it will mean more schools, housing, transport and healthcare projects can be progressed and delivered for our people. In 2024, €13 billion will fund vital infrastructure. The total available capital funding for 2025 is now €14.35 billion and for 2026 it is €15.459 billion. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU.

However, the Government and I acknowledge that the significant investment under the NDP does not come without delivery challenges. I am acutely aware of the challenges that the construction industry has faced in terms of material price inflation, labour supply constraints, and supply chain disruption. As a result, in order to safeguard the delivery of key NDP projects, in January 2022, my Department introduced measures to address inflation for new contracts and tenders. Furthermore, in May 2022, a new set of measures to apportion additional inflation costs between the parties to public works contracts were introduced. These interim arrangements were then made permanent in July 2023 which allow for more appropriate risk sharing in the delivery of public works contracts.

In 2023, I secured Government approval for a number of priority actions to improve delivery of NDP projects, including reducing the administrative burden on Departments charged with infrastructure delivery. I am confident that these actions will boost the delivery of the critical infrastructure we need to support a growing economy and higher living standards for those living here. In addition, my Department will continue to work closely with the construction sector in order to improve efficiency and enhanced delivery through the Construction Sector Group.

The Government is committed to detailing progress on the delivery of the NDP at regular intervals into the future 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 which list projects and programmes on a regional and county level. In addition, Annual and Regional Reports on the implementation of Project Ireland 2040 have been published for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Project Ireland 2040 Annual and Regional Reports, capital investment tracker and myProjectIreland interactive map are all available on gov.ie/2040.