Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2026
22. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the output measures being undertaken on infrastructure investments to ensure improved outcomes and outputs and not to focus purely on the investment in euros; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11101/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Development Plan Review 2025 set out €275.4 billion in public capital investment to 2035, which represents the largest capital investment programme in the history of the State. My Department has taken several steps, working across Government, to identify and mitigate risks to improve outcomes and outputs in all areas of NDP delivery.
Firstly, the allocation of capital investment through the NDP review prioritised investment in the critical growth-enabling sectors of water, energy, transport and housing. Investment in these sectors is critical to enabling the delivery of 300,000 additional homes and boosting our competitiveness. Clear prioritisation has provided for a structured and coordinated pipeline of the projects to be delivered, which manages labour constraints and allows for the building of expertise within sectors.
This has been supported by each department publishing a sectoral investment plan outlining their priority capital projects and programmes to be delivered over 2026 to 2030. Together with the publication of five-year annual sectoral capital allocations, this provides clarity to the construction sector and prospective workers as to the level of funding and investment over the coming years. This in turn provides greater certainty to the sector to invest in hiring and scaling to prepare commercial bids and deliver on the planned investment.
To guide the development of individual projects under the NDP, my Department also publishes the Infrastructure Guidelines. These guidelines set out the rules by which all state bodies can make their case for spending taxpayers money on capital projects. It is important to note that the focus of the areas required under these guidelines are not just limited to project costs but extend to project benefits and the skills in place to successfully deliver the project. The two key purposes are:
• To show value for money to the taxpayer, with a focus on project benefits, ensuring that projects do make economic and social sense.
• To set up projects for success, ensuring accuracy of costings and timelines for delivery.
The fundamental questions these guidelines ask relate to the demand and need for the project; the best way to deliver the project and a consideration of a reasonable amount of different options to deliver; what benefits will this project bring and do they outweigh the costs; the accuracy of the cost estimates; the governance and skillsets in place to deliver; and other risks that might there be associated with the project and how these can be mitigated.
Projects of different scales and complexity are treated differently within the guidelines; lower risk and cost projects do not need to provide the same level of detail as more complex projects.
Departments and agencies are responsible for bringing forward the cases for projects and setting out the benefits and services that these projects will bring. In the post-project delivery stage, they are also required to compile a post-project review to identify learnings for future projects and to carry out a benefits realisation exercise to ensure that the project is delivering on the outputs and outcomes that were set out in the original business case.
As part of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, my Department will work with the Department of the Taoiseach and key sectors to better capture and report on the benefits realised from projects delivered under the NDP, as set out in Action 30 of the plan.
