Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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149. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for an overview of the progress made to date under National Strategic Outcome 4 of the National Development Plan 2021-2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27990/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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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.

NSO 4 – Sustainable Mobility - aims to invest in high-quality sustainable mobility to improve the quality of life of all our citizens, support our transition to a low-carbon society and enhance our economic competitiveness. The Department of Transport published the National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland (NIFTI) in 2021 which sets out the prioritisation for future investment in the land transport network.

NSO 4 projects to be delivered in support of Project Ireland 2040 over the coming years include the DART+ Programme, which is a series of projects that will deliver frequent, modern, electrified services within the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) and will improve connectivity to regional towns and cities.

The DART+ Programme involves rail improvements from:

• DART+ West - Maynooth and M3 Parkway to the City Centre
• DART+ South West - Hazelhatch & Celbridge to the City Centre
• DART+ Coastal North - Drogheda to the City Centre
• DART+ Coastal South - Greystones to the City Centre
• DART+ Fleet - purchase of new train fleet to increase train services.

- The Railway Order for DART+ West was granted by An Bord Pleanála in July 2024 subject to certain conditions.

- The Railway Order was approved by An Bord Pleanála for the DART+ South West project in November 2024. Work is now progressing with a view to moving these projects into procurement and thereafter into the construction stage in the coming years.

- A Railway Order application was lodged with An Bord Pleanála for DART+ Coastal North in July 2024.

- The DART+ Coastal South project envisages increased train frequency between Greystones and Bray within a number of years.

- Two carriage orders have been placed under the DART+ Fleet project, consisting of 185 carriages in total, made up of largely battery-electric with some electric units. Battery-electric carriages from the first order are expected to be deployed on the Northern Commuter Line serving Dublin to/from Drogheda in 2026.

BusConnects is an investment programme to fundamentally transform the bus systems in our major cities, so that journeys for passengers by bus will be fast, reliable, punctual, convenient and affordable.

The National Transport Authority is in the process of developing cycling plans for each county under the CycleConnects plan which aims to improve sustainable travel by providing the potential for more trips on a safe, accessible and convenient cycling network, connecting more people to more places.

Further details of projects and programmes being delivered under NSO 4 can be found in the latest capital investment tracker, which I will publish shortly and which provides a composite update on the progress of all major investments with an estimated cost of greater than €20 million. Accompanying the tracker, the myProjectIreland interactive map details projects across the country and provides details on specific projects by county and contains smaller investments such as schools and social housing projects. Search facilities also allow citizens to view projects in their regional area, by city, by county or by eircode.

The Project Ireland 2040 capital investment tracker and myProjectIreland interactive map are all available on gov.ie/2040.