National development plan review
Catherine Murphy asked whether work had begun on reviewing the national development plan after motions on the climate emergency, the children’s hospital and broadband. The Taoiseach said there would be no formal review until about halfway through the ten-year plan, though changes could be made along the way.
A number of months ago we passed a motion to declare a climate emergency. We also know that there has been a very large overrun on the national children's hospital project and that there is the prospect of the issuing of a tender for the national broadband plan. A motion that we brought forward was passed here in July on the reviewing of the national development plan. Has any work been done on any of those three things? Has anything been done to start a review of the national development plan?
Comment on this
It is not our intention as a Government to review the ten-year national development plan until we are about five years into it. There is provision for a review five years into it. Obviously, we will make amendments along the way and did provide additional funds in the summer economic statement. It turns out that some of it was not actually necessary. We will make modifications along the way, but we do not plan on carrying out a review until we are about halfway through it.