Sir, – Prof John FitzGerald (Business Opinion, February 23rd) claims that the National Development Plan (NDP) "lacks evidence for its priorities", asserting that there is very little supporting evidence why certain areas were prioritised for investment.
This conclusion is puzzling in light of the detailed and comprehensive evidence-base for the sectoral prioritisation discussed in chapter two of the plan.
The review of the 2015 capital plan was published last September, alongside the meticulous analysis of the priorities for public capital investment set out in the infrastructure capacity and demand analysis report.
These reports highlighted the evidence for increased investment in sectors prioritised in the NDP such as, for example, housing, transport, education and health. Prof FitzGerald also appears to have discounted how the strategic investment priorities in the NDP are explicitly intended to underpin the delivery of the 10 key outcomes of the National Planning Framework which were developed on the basis of an exhaustive evidence-based assessment of Ireland’s spatial policy needs.
The requirement for a sharp focus on securing value-for-money from public investment under the plan is unequivocal. The NDP explicitly states (page 12) that “Departments must also ensure that individual projects and investment proposals meet all of the relevant appraisal processes and value-for-money tests required under the Public Spending Code, before Exchequer resources are ultimately expended on the relevant projects”. – Yours, etc,
BEN SWEENEY,
Press Office,
Department of Public
Expenditure and Reform,
Government Buildings,
Dublin 2.