Written answers

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Capital Expenditure Programme

Photo of Sinéad GibneySinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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97. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 664 of 29 April 2025, if his Department envisages any further improvements to the provision of information to Dáil Éireann and public on specific capital spending projects supported by the public purse. [31213/25]

Photo of Jack ChambersJack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As indicated in my previous response, substantial information on capital infrastructure projects is made available to both Dáil Éireann and to the wider public. There is currently extensive reporting of capital projects in the financial statements of Government Departments and Offices as well as the annual reports and financial statements of bodies under their aegis.

Government Departments and Local Authorities are also required to publish details of projects of €500,000 and more under management (these projects may not even incur €500,000 in a single year but might be at that level over multiple years). The National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) publish detailed updates for each county council on projects of a relatively modest value of €500,000 or more. The latest publication for end-2023 was published in September 2024 and can be found at the following link: www.noac.ie/noac_publications/report-70-public-spending-code-report-2023/. The inventory table is included at Appendix 4 and it runs to over 100 pages of updates on individual projects at county council level.

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 and giving a detailed overview of the public investments that have been made throughout the country.

In addition, in ensuring value for money, the Programme for Government commits to deliver improvements in how government departments report capital spending on an annual basis to ensure greater transparency and oversight of expenditure on a regional basis. This will include consideration of the need for statutory reporting obligations, as appropriate.

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