Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The thing about it is that the local authority has to make up the difference, and it does not have a fund to make up that difference. It may well be the reason for underfunding and underperforming. That would be the key thing.

The one thing the Committee of Public Accounts and I hate to see is allocated money that is not spent. In some respects, it is nearly as bad as misspent money, particularly in the area of climate. The document shows underspends of €37 million on climate action and environment leadership, €238 million on energy transformation, €7 million on circular economy development, and €22 million on connectivity and communications delivery. Is the Department able to spend its budget? We are all past Covid at this stage. It was a couple of years ago. There was one year in which there was major disruption, but I do not really want to hear the excuse about Covid. Can the Department spend its budget?