Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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100. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is aware of an unfair regional balancing in Capital spending under the NDP given Cork’s potential to counterbalance Dublin. [15234/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level.

The responsibility for the management and delivery of individual investment projects or sectoral policy strategies, within the allocations agreed under the National Development Plan (NDP), rests with the individual sponsoring Department in each case. Each Minister is responsible for deciding on the priority programmes and projects that will be delivered under their remit within the NDP and for setting out the timelines for delivery. Expenditure is therefore allocated and monitored on a Departmental basis and not a geographical basis.

Balanced regional development is a key priority of this Government and is at the heart of Project Ireland 2040. The Government has committed €165 billion of funding for capital investment under the NDP 2021-30. An additional €2.25 billion was allocated in 2024 as part of an update to the NDP which set out revised capital ceilings from 2024 to 2026. In Budget 2025, almost €15 billion was made available from the Exchequer for investment in public capital projects along with €3 billion of funds from the sale of the State’s shareholding in AIB in June 2024. This level of expenditure is pivotal in consolidating the progress already made and in supporting balanced regional development to address key infrastructural bottlenecks more rapidly, and lead to further improvements in living standards and competitiveness.

Since Project Ireland 2040 was first launched in 2018, the Government has overseen the delivery of many impactful NDP projects across the country, including in Cork. Major projects such as upgrading the Dunkettle interchange to a fully free flow junction, enhancing water quality through the Cork lower harbour main drainage project, the remediation of Haulbowline island have all been delivered, along with numerous other projects in the housing, education and health sectors.

Additionally, the recently agreed Programme for Government sets out that Government will prioritise an early review of the National Development Plan, which will be completed in July 2025. The review of the National Development Plan will encompass all public capital investment and will utilise State funds to support increased capital investment levels in all regions.