Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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345. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will give detailed consideration to a recent briefing note of the Northern & Western Regional Assembly: Regional Infrastructure Priorities for the Northern and Western Region, June 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34166/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm to the Deputy that I received and reviewed a copy of the Briefing Note - Regional Infrastructure Priorities for the Northern and Western Region from the Director of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. I would also like to remind the Deputy that 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 individual sponsoring Departments in each case. As Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation I am responsible for setting the overall capital allocations across Departments and for monitoring monthly expenditure at Departmental level. 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, including in the Northern and Western region. 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, the latest version of which was published on 29 May. In addition, my Department publishes the Project Ireland 2040 Annual report and Regional reports highlighting Project Ireland 2040 achievements throughout the country.

Furthermore, 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.