Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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249. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which any audit of deficits in vital infrastructure has been undertaken with a view to identifying major capital works which might have a substantial positive impact on the economy in the event of the availability of appropriate funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29963/24]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government committed €165 billion towards capital investment through the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-30 published in 2021. An additional €2.25 billion from the windfall tax receipts was made available to capital expenditure over the period 2024-26 in the Summer Economic Statement (SES) last year. This was to facilitate the progression of important projects and enable more rapid development of key Programme for Government commitments. Additional capital expenditure of €250 million is being made available for 2024 from windfall exchequer receipts with a further €2 billion being made available across 2025 (€750 million) and 2026 (€1.25 billion).

The additional €2.25 billion 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. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is among the largest in the EU. Deliverability was of critical focus in the recent NDP allocation process with funding to be provided to those projects and programmes that will be successfully delivered or on track for delivery at end-2026.

The process commenced in December 2023, with a Memorandum to Government setting out the parameters of the review and the key criteria that should guide the sectoral prioritisation. The Departments were asked to respond with their key programmes and projects for consideration by late-January 2024. Throughout this process, there was significant Ministerial engagement as well as extensive negotiations at senior official level, with approximately 35 Ministerial bilateral meetings between myself and my Ministerial colleagues. On the agreement of allocations with each of the sectoral Ministers, the distribution of the additional €2.25 billion across Departments was agreed by Government on March 27.

Recognising the capacity constraints in the economy, the additional funding will be targeted at projects that are at the appropriate stage of development for advancement in 2025 and 2026. This would include the consideration of which sectors have been able to utilise existing NDP allocations in recent years and who have a good track record of delivery.

In terms of accessing the impacts, or benefits, of major projects, my Department is responsible for setting out the framework for appraising projects captured in the Infrastructure Guidelines. Each individual project proposal is required to be appraised in line with these guidelines and this requires an assessment of project need and demand, an estimate of project cost and benefits and a post-completion review to consider the accuracy of the assumption made before the project commenced. This allows for lessons to be learned which can improve the delivery of upcoming projects being delivered.