Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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154. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will provide the details of costings provided to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, in the context of the National Development Plan 2021-2030 review conducted earlier this year; and to provide a breakdown of each project and its projected cost in each of the years 2025 to 2030. [42712/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Capital investment in Defence is primarily directed at providing sufficient military capabilities, across land, air, maritime and cyber domains, to meet specific roles assigned to the Defence Forces. In the main, this investment is for the acquisition of defensive equipment and the construction or upgrade of barracks infrastructure. Defence capital spending is largely atypical and often multi-annual with long-lead-in times. At any given time, a large number of multi-annual capital equipment and infrastructural projects are at varying stages of development, with overall costs often far in excess of the annual allocation provided.

The availability of comprehensive, internal capital planning frameworks, in the form of the Equipment Development Plan (EDP) for equipment acquisitions and the Infrastructural Development Plan (IDP) for Defence Forces built infrastructural projects, provides a framework for the Defence Sector to plan and prioritise the timely implementation of its Defence capital investment priorities - which must remain cognisant of overarching funding, timing and industry capacity considerations.

The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery & Reform undertook a review of the National Development Plan in Quarter 1 2024. As part of that review, line Departments were invited to submit capital investment proposals for 2025 and 2026. Accordingly, the Department of Defence submitted a bid for increases in capital funding, with a view to facilitating significant progression on a number of Defence Forces equipment and infrastructural projects which are currently progressing across the various stages of the procurement cycle. (The Department does not publish details of the projects involved for operational, security and commercial reasons.)

Arising from this process and as outlined in the revised multi-annual capital allocations published last April, capital investment in Defence will increase to €215 million in 2025, further increasing to €220 million in 2026. This is the highest level of capital funding provided to Defence to date and will enable progress across a broad range of priority Defence equipment upgrade and replacement programmes over the coming years, such as:-

• Ongoing Land Forces Capability Development and Force Protection Programmes, including an upgrade of the military transport fleet, next generation IT, communications and signal equipment and force protection equipment;
• Ongoing Naval Service Vessel Renewal and Replacement Programmes, which includes progression of the Multi-Role Vessel project, replacement of secondary armament across the fleet and enhanced sub-sea capabilities;
• Ongoing Air Corps Aircraft Renewal and Replacement Programmes, including the procurement of a third C295 aircraft in Military Transport specification, scheduled for delivery in 2025 and new rotary wing capability, which will be the subject of a future procurement process beginning in the near term.

• Upgrade of former USAC Accommodation Block, Galway;
• New CIS Workshop Facility, Defence Forces Training Centre;
• New Garaging Facility, Defence Forces Training Centre;
• Various projects to develop the Joint Induction Training Centre in Gormanston Camp;
• Gymnasium works at Finner Camp, Casement Aerodrome, Haulbowline Naval Base and Renmore Barracks;
• Construction of two new hangars at Casement Aerodrome
• Naval Base dredging works