Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2026
33. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to outline the core functions and expected outputs of the new centre of excellence within the Major Projects Delivery Service, with reference to project appraisal, governance and cost-management standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10996/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraA new Government service to accelerate major Government capital investment projects was launched on January 27. The National Development Finance Agency (the NDFA) will now offer direct support and assistance to Departments on the development of major capital projects.
The services from the NDFA will offer support at every stage of the development process for major projects. This ranges from assistance with the internal Government assessments required to promote value for money, such as the Strategic Assessment and Preliminary Business Case, to expertise on the appropriate procurement strategy to be adopted, to the Corporate Governance arrangements that will determine how the major project will be operated when it is completed.
Directly providing this service through the NDFA will reduce the need for individual Departments to enter lengthy, multiple procurement exercises to obtain the specialist assistance they might need for each individual project. Using the same service will also drive consistency and standardisation across project development. Together, this will reduce the development time for projects and should result in lower costs, delivering faster and more cost-effective capital projects. Overall, based on the feedback from Departments during the development of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, it is estimated that this measure could shave 12 months off the project development cycle for major capital projects.
The NDFA will be available to provide advice and support to Departments and Agencies on issues such as corporate governance arrangements for projects, developing a project programme, identifying internal resourcing and any external services required, ensuring strategic assessment is in line with the Infrastructure Guidelines, preparing business cases and project execution plans, developing procurement strategy and documentation and providing support for construction phase and advice on potential project plans.
