John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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166. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress his Department is making towards reviewing the infrastructure guidelines and creating a public investment Act to reduce delays in the decision-making process around State capital projects as per the commitment in the Programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16246/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department have refreshed the requirements for capital projects in the Infrastructure Guidelines, reducing the number of approval stages prior to implementation from 5 to 3 and streamlining the requirements for major projects, raising the level of cost at which a project is considered a major project to €200m. This allows for projects below this limit to proceed more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process compared to those of greater scale and complexity.

This is a significant policy development that allows Departments greater freedom to pursue the delivery of their priority projects.

In addition, the Programme for Government commits my Department to reviewing the Infrastructure Guidelines and to create a Public Investment Act, requiring sponsoring agencies to meet timelines on development of project appraisals and other evaluations so as to reduce delays in decision making and embed value for money across all capital projects.

As with previous updates to the appraisal framework, any changes made as part of the proposed Public Investment Act will reflect international best practice with the aim to ensure value for money for the tax payer in delivering on the infrastructural requirements of the State. Officials in my Department are currently developing a policy framework to enhance infrastructure project delivery and any reforms to the Infrastructure Guidelines will form part of this consideration.