Written answers
Thursday, 28 May 2026
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
National Development Plan
John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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286. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the most recent update on the rollout of the National Development Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40912/26]
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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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.
As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets overall expenditure ceilings for each Ministerial Vote Group. These are laid out at Vote level in the Budget Day Expenditure Report published in October with further detail provided in the Revised Estimates for Public Services published in December.
The NDP Review 2025 was published on Tuesday, 22 July 2025, in line with the Programme for Government commitment. The Plan committed €275.4billion in public capital investment to 2035, the largest and most significant capital injection in our economy in the history of the State, and an additional €10billion in equity release up to 2030. This included €3.5billion for energy grid capacity, €4.5billion for water and €2billion for low-carbon transport including Metrolink.
The Programme for Government set out the clear prioritisation for the NDP Review to ensure that investment can be maximised in the coming five years for strategic infrastructure. This includes the key energy, water and transport networks on which all future development relies. This is critical to allow Government to meet the additional 300,000 homes target and to support competitiveness.
€19.1 billion in Exchequer capital investment is being provided in 2026. On Budget day, Ministers set out the capital projects and programmes that they will prioritise within their allocation in 2026.
Departments subsequently published sectoral investment plans setting out the capital projects to be prioritised from 2026 to 2030. These plans provide visibility of the delivery pipeline, giving construction firms the certainty they need to invest in hiring, training, and scaling their operations. This multi-year approach is designed to support industry planning and ensure that regional capacity can grow in line with demand. The plans include planned investment and projects across the country, including a range of projects and critical infrastructure works for example:
- The infrastructure upgrade and refurbishment programme at Dundalk IT
- Works in a number of schools and social housing works in Drogheda and
- Upgrades of the Drogheda Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Furthermore, the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, published in December 2025 outlined a range of reforms to speed up delivery of critical infrastructure across Ireland to support the realisation of the funding allocated under the NDP and optimise delivery.
The Report was in response to the well-documented challenges of lengthy development timelines, fragmented processes, and rising costs, identified as major barriers to achieving Ireland’s housing, energy, and climate objectives.
The Action Plan addresses 12 key barriers and sets out 30 specific, time-bound actions grouped under four pillars, each addressing a key area of reform to speed up the pace of infrastructure delivery in Ireland. Key infrastructure across, electricity, water and transport, were further defined as critical infrastructure in the Report.
The delivery of these 30 actions under the four pillars is on track at the end of Q1 2026. The implementation of the Plan is already having impact on the delivery of capital works, including for example,
- 26 weeks saved on the Waterford Wastewater Treatment Plant project due to the removal of external reviews and change in thresholds within the Infrastructure Guidelines by DPER.
- 12 months off the Greater Dublin Drainage project, due to Uisce Éireann changing the project commissioning - a change made with confidence due to system changes.
- Timelines for Marine Area Consents now reduced by 30% for ‘fit and proper’ bodies.
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