Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2026
64. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will outline the role of the new National Development Finance Agency (NDFA); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10787/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe role of the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) is to provide financial advisory, procurement and project delivery services to State authorities on public infrastructure projects. During the development of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, it was determined that broadening NDFA support could assist with the acceleration of major public investment projects.
Specifically, action 24 of the Report and Action Plan commits to the creation of new centralised support services in NDFA to guide major capital projects through the Infrastructure Guidelines and the Government approvals process. From Quarter 1 the NDFA will provide this enhanced expert assistance at key stages of these projects.
In practical terms, the support available 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.
The scope of the NDFA’s role in the specific major projects will be clearly defined on a project-by-project
basis with the delivery bodies remaining fully responsible and accountable for all aspects of the project. In tandem with this, the NDFA will proactively drive projects forward through setting challenging timetables and submitting clear decisions for the responsible Departments to make in a timely manner.
