Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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95. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the measures he is taking to ensure that there are sufficient funds to fulfil transport projects under the NDP. [28219/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Review of the National Development Plan (NDP) will allocate funding to update capital expenditure ceilings out to 2035. The Review will encompass all public capital investment to 2035 and allocate the funds arising from the Apple Escrow account, the proceeds of bank share sales as well as funding from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund.

In total, around €97 billion in capital funding will be allocated until 2030, which reflects an almost €20 billion increase from current NDP ceilings. In allocating funding, Government will be required to make decisions on strategic project selection and prioritisation, to align with national priorities and make the maximum use of State resources.

Prioritisation of the available funding is necessary to deliver on the ambition of the Review to provide the supporting infrastructure to enable the delivery of 300,000 additional homes by 2030 and to boost our competitiveness.

Aligned with that vision, the Programme for Government lists critical priorities to improve our infrastructure through the review of the National Development Plan. These are: housing, energy, water, transport and health digitalisation. Prioritisation will therefore focus on the funding requirements in these critical priority areas first to the support the focus of the Review.

While transport is a priority sector for the Review, funding proposals in all sectors will be subject to scrutiny by my officials. In particular, spending Departments will be required to demonstrate:

1. The underlying sectoral strategy, drivers of demand and estimates for existing 2025 and 2026 funding;
2. Key deliverables in the next two years, including projects and programmes where implementation is imminent; and
3. Projects and programmes to be deprioritised within allocations, to allow for additional efficiencies and scope within existing schemes to support Programme for Government delivery.

Fulfilment of projects in transport and other sectors is not just a matter of funding, and also depends on the implementation of reforms to boost delivery. For that reason, Government is also working to accelerate infrastructure delivery, including the creation of a Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure to drive infrastructure delivery, and the establishment of an Infrastructure Division within my Department to advance the infrastructure reform agenda.