Paschal Donohoe believes Fine Gael has delivered on 'legacy projects'

Mr Donohoe said that changes had already been made to "capture all the learnings" around the costings of the National Children's Hospital

Paschal Donohoe said that it is "a little too early though to be thinking about legacy projects" and that the Government "still has an awful lot more that we want to do". Photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

The Public Expenditure Minister, Paschal Donohoe, has insisted that he does not worry about "legacy projects" after over a decade in power.

Mr Donohoe was speaking in Dublin as the Government announced new rules around State contracts and said that he did not believe that Fine Gael has underdelivered on capital projects. 

Asked if he felt Fine Gael had failed to deliver on major projects, the minister said that he believes the National Broadband Plan is just one example of a capital achievement by his party.

"I think the National Broadband Plan is a really good example. It's going to deliver digital connectivity to every home and every business in this country. That will put the level of connectivity that we have within our society and in our economy amongst the highest in Europe. It is a project that is equivalent in scale to other transformative projects that have happened for our country in the past," he said.

Mr Donohoe said that it is "a little too early though to be thinking about legacy projects" and that the Government "still has an awful lot more that we want to do".

Originally announced in 2012, the National Broadband Plan is a €2.7bn plan to provide fibre broadband to 540,000 premises, around a quarter of the total in the country. It has been mired by delays and controversy around its tendering process. 

In 2018, the then Minister for Communications, Denis Naughten, resigned after revelations emerged that he had had dinners with the sole bidder for the project. A later investigation found that Mr Naughten did not unduly influence the tendering process.

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In a recent parliamentary response, junior minister Ossian Smyth said that 147,159 premises have been "passed" across 26 counties and are available for immediate connection. He added that there are over 42,000 premises now connected to the network, with a significant number of new connections being made every month.

Mr Donohoe added that the Government had undertaken capital spending in overhauling the technological universities and public housing.

Mr Donohoe said that changes had already been made to "capture all the learnings" of the National Children's Hospital, the final cost of which he said is subject to a process between the contractor and the board. He said that he would not comment on what the final cost might be in order to avoid prejudicing those negotiations.