Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

203. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the specific measures being taken to enhance transport and utilities in the west, given concerns that inadequate infrastructure could hinder Ireland's competitiveness. [7891/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform 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.

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.

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.

This review will build on recent actions to improve delivery including my Department's publication of the Infrastructure Guidelines, which replaced the Public Spending Code with an effective date of 1 January 2024. These set the value for money guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects. This is a significant policy development that allows departments greater freedom to pursue the delivery of their priority projects. It is also intended to ensure quality delivery can be achieved by agencies without causing undue delays which may impact on projects costs and timelines.

In relation to enhancing transport and utilities in the West, there are major regional transport projects planned or being implemented for the Northern and Western Region: the N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin Road; the N56 Dungloe to Glenties Road; the N56 Mountcharles to Inver Road; the Galway City Ring Road; the N5 Westport to Turlough Road; and the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) network also offers premises in the intervention area a high-speed fibre broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500Mbps from the outset. The network is future proofed to deliver up to 10Gbps speeds. Almost €360 million has been invested in Counties Galway (€153m), Mayo (€145m) and Sligo (€59m) in the continuing roll out of the NBP

In terms of housing, provisional data shows that there were 3,490 new dwelling completions in the Northern and Western Region in 2024, of which there were 1,469 social housing new builds in 2024 with more planned in 2025.

In addition, there have been a number of successful applications for funding under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund to advance projects which will drive economic activity in the region, such as funding for a master plan for the regeneration of Galway City’s inner harbour area, enabling circa 100,000m2 of residential and commercial development within the city core.