Mr. Tom O'Mahony:

I have provided the committee with some advance briefing material which I hope is helpful. I am not certain we have got the balance right in terms of the level of detail the committee wants. I propose to discuss with the committee’s secretariat over the coming months some of the models from other Departments which the committee has found to be good practice.

In 2011, the Department's overall expenditure totalled €2.346 billion of which €1.496 billion was capital expenditure and €850 million was current expenditure. The overall expenditure outturn was a saving of just under €16 million of the funding allocated by the Dáil. Of this amount, €8.7 million was carried over to provide for capital expenditure in 2012.

On the capital side, the main areas of expenditure were road improvement and maintenance, public transport investment, maritime safety, the coast guard, tourism product development and sports. In 2011 over €1 billion was spent on road improvement and maintenance. Regional and local roads expenditure accounted for €343 million while €674 million was invested in national roads. The following projects went to construction stage: the N3-Belturbet bypass; the N4-Downes grade separation; the N5-Longford bypass; the N25-Cork southern ring road interchange upgrades; and the N52-Carrickbridge-Dalystown.

In 2011, the Department spent €377 million on public transport investment. This enabled the continued implementation of the third railway safety programme and the completion of the Luas red line extension to Citywest. Construction and installation works continued on the Dublin city centre rail re-signalling project and works on the road crossing automation programme for 2011 focused on the Galway and Mayo lines. The Leap Card integrated ticketing project was introduced in the greater Dublin area, GDA, and good progress was made on the roll-out of real-time passenger information signs on the services of Dublin Bus in the GDA.

A total of €16 million was spent on investments in the maritime area. The main area of expenditure was on Coast Guard buildings and equipment. This included the second milestone payment for the helicopter search and rescue services contract of €6.7 million. This milestone was payable on written confirmation from Sikorsky Ltd of the readiness for delivery to Ireland of a new build S92 helicopter. In addition, €4.3 million was spent on remedial works at regional harbours.

In 2011, the total allocation to Fáilte Ireland to support capital investment in tourism was €25 million. Notable projects approved for funding included Garnish Island, Killarney House, a further development of the Mayo Greenway and the upgrading of the Book of Kells visitor centre in Trinity College, Dublin.

A total of €34 million was spent on capital investment in sport and recreation services in 2011. The main elements were €23 million on grants for sporting bodies and €10 million on provision and renovation of swimming pools.

In 2011, the Department's current Vote expenditure totalled €850 million. Current expenditure on roads was €254 million. This was accounted for by maintenance of regional and local roads of €110 million, maintenance on the national road network of €49 million, PPP operational payments of €81 million and NRA administration costs of €14 milion.

Expenditure of €278 million on public transport services was mainly accounted for by funding of €265 million provided in State subvention, through the NTA, to the CIE companies. The rural transport programme accounted for €11 million and the green schools programme accounted for €2 million.

Current expenditure under the tourism heading amounted to €126 million, which comprised of grants of €63 million to Fáilte Ireland, €17 million to Tourism Ireland and over €46 million to the tourism agencies for the overseas promotion of Ireland as a tourism destination. Current expenditure on sport amounted to €48 million, which was almost totally the grant to the Irish Sports Council.

The other major areas of current expenditure were maritime safety and the Irish Coast Guard which accounted for €39 million, the road safety agencies which spent €16 million and regional airports which also incurred expenditure of €16 million.

As I have given detailed advanced briefing to the committee on the two chapters from the Comptroller and Auditor General's report about which Mr. McCarthy has spoken, I will not add anything further at this point. Obviously, I am happy to deal with the various questions that will arise over the course of the morning.