Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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665. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide a list of the ten capital projects, completed or almost completed, within the past five years, with the most significant cost variances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20555/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Securing value for money is an ongoing priority for this Government and is at the heart of all decision making, at every stage of a policy, project or programme's lifecycle. Delivering value for money is about securing the efficient and effective use of public resources in the pursuit of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland. It is not solely concerned with costs and price levels – it also involves the consideration of quality, specialist expertise, and social and environmental impacts.

Achieving value for money is the responsibility of each Minister and Department who spend public funds, and the Accounting Officers for those Departments and Offices are accountable to the Comptroller & Auditor General and respective Oireachtas Committees for that spending.

It is a matter for each Accounting Officer to ensure that capital projects for which they have statutory responsibility are managed and delivered effectively. The Accounting Officer must decide whether processes in place in their department/office/body (and associated agencies) are appropriate to ensure compliance with (i) the Infrastructure Guidelines, (ii) the management of capital budgets overall, and (iii) the management of budgets at an individual project level.

My own Department has a relatively limited capital budget and there have not been any significant overruns on capital projects in recent years.

My Department is also responsible for the Infrastructure Guidelines, which replaced the Public Spending Code and which were published in December 2023, with an effective date of 1 January 2024. These set the value for money guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects. As I stated, the management and delivery of individual investment projects and public services within allocation and the national frameworks is a key responsibility of the respective Department and Minister.

As part of the capital appraisal process for projects under the Infrastructure Guidelines, Sponsoring Agents for the projects are asked to critically consider the potential schedule and cost implications of a project, which is further developed as a project progresses through the approval gates and more information becomes available. For example when a project moves from the preliminary to final business case before the awarding of the contract.

This includes both detailed financial and economic appraisal, sensitivity analysis, accounting for behavioural influences such as optimism bias as well as consideration of appropriate levels of contingency. To further ensure value for money, where a project's potential costs are likely to exceed €200 million, this project must also be reviewed through the External Assurance Process (EAP) and the Major Projects Advisory Group (MPAG) at Approval Gate 1, overseen by my Department, to allow for greater scrutiny and clarity regarding such projects.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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666. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with respect to the capital commitments voted upon in the recent budget, to provide a breakdown expenditure by nomenclature of territorial units 3 (NUTS3) region, in tabular form; and if he will detail the controls used to ensure that spending is fairly distributed across the country. [20556/25]

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, including in the recent Budget, 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, in the NUTS3 regions. The Government is committed to detailing progress on the delivery of the NDP at regular intervals to allow for full transparency of the implementation of Project Ireland 2040. This is achieved through regular updates of the Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and MyProjectIreland interactive map viewer, as well as the publication of annual reports and regional reports highlighting Project Ireland 2040 achievements throughout the country.

Additionally, in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government, my Department has commenced a review of the NDP, which will be completed in July 2025. The review will encompass all public capital investment and will utilise State funds to support increased capital investment levels in all regions.