Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for outlining the reasons for the reallocation of the moneys. The lack of coast guard facilities at Doolin has been on the agenda for some time. I understood that moneys were not available previously in that subhead to meet the costs of the provision of that facility. It appears that there is now, but it has been diverted out of the section to deal with the CIE issue.

Overall at the end of the year some €30 million remains unspent. This is money that could be used for the so-called shovel-ready projects. The Government and the Minister of State's party made considerable play about shovel-ready projects generating activity in the economy, yet at the end of the year we find the Department has €30 million in spare cash. It is an indictment of the Department and the Minister of State that it has not been able to drive these projects, many of them in capital areas, that would generate employment and increased activity. I ask him to comment on that.