Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 339: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the projects which have been subjected to detailed cost-benefit appraisal in the past six months; the benefit-cost ratio which emerged from this test; if she is satisfied that projects being selected not only pass this test but represent a better return than competing uses for the same limited funds; and the way in which this process influences the size of the capital envelope for different project areas. [37355/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Finance's guidelines for the appraisal and management of capital expenditure proposals in the public sector currently require that projects of a value in excess of €50 million be subject to a full scale cost benefit analysis. The Minister for Finance recently announced his intention to reduce this value to €30 million as one of a number of new initiatives to obtain value for money from public sector contracts.

The vast majority of capital expenditure in my Department relates to capital grant schemes involving relatively small scale investments by farmers and others in the agri-food sector. There were no capital projects costing in excess of either €50 million or €30 million, and therefore requiring detailed CBA, undertaken by my Department in the period referred to.