Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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34. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for an update on the review of the National Development Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38945/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government sets out the clear ambition to prioritise the delivery of transformative, critical and growth-enhancing infrastructure over the next 5 years. To support these goals, Government has prioritised an early review of the National Development Plan, which is being led by my Department.

From February, officials in my Department set about identifying the parameters, priorities and critical milestones for the Review. This was done to support the ambition of the Review to improve our infrastructure, especially housing, water, energy and transport.

In early April, I secured Government approval to commence the review process following which Departments were written to at Secretary General level to advise on the Government approved approach to the Review. This set out that the core focus of the Review is to ensure that supporting economic infrastructure can be prioritised to deliver 300,000 additional homes by 2030 and to support international competitiveness.

Since April and continuing to this month, a process of bilateral engagement has taken place between my Department and individual spending Departments to assess their investment plans and programmes. An intensive series of bilateral engagements commenced at official level and is continuing at Ministerial level.

To ensure all stakeholders of the NDP had a chance to contribute to the process, my Department held a public consultation on national priority sectors for additional investment and associated trade-offs and constraints. There were 185 responses to the consultation, which are being analysed by my Officials to inform the decision making process. In addition, I chaired a session on infrastructure prioritisation and delivery at the National Economic Dialogue, where there was a constructive exchange of views among interested stakeholders.

The next immediate output from the Review process will be the launch of a Review document in July that will feature five year capital allocations to departments over the period 2026 to 2030 and overall capital ceilings to 2035.

As part of the process, Departments have also been asked to consider whether their planned programmes meet the criteria for designated environmental projects to receive funding from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. €3.15bn in funding is available from the Fund over 2026 to 2030 and is part of the total NDP funding available. In addition, a climate assessment is also being carried out by my Department of projects receiving funding as part of the NDP and this assessment will be published alongside the Review document in July.

While particular allocations are yet to be agreed, the objective is to support the prioritisation in the Programme for Government and the focus of the Review - namely to support the delivery of 300,000 additional homes by 2030 and to boost our competitiveness.